Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Gentlemen, thank you for joining us today. I think that Invest in Canada has the potential to do some good things.
I read in the backgrounder that part of the funding was for 25 new trade commissioners as well. Was that part of it? These are important and good things.
You alluded in your presentation, Mr. McKay, to how FDI is slowing down. We've seen many projects pulled back in the energy sector. When you talked about record investments in 2007, it was about record investments in the energy sector. You also acknowledged in your notes that red tape continues to be an issue.
Just talk to us about some of the challenges you have to overcome in the environment right now. We have the U.S. cutting its taxes, and we're looking at adding new taxes like carbon taxes and some things that are going to put us at a competitive disadvantage relative to the U.S. specifically.
How do you see our working around that? I think Canada is the greatest place to invest, but all of these other things have to line up too. It's not just free trade deals. It's not just about having a smart workforce and a good immigration policy. It's also about the red tape. It's about taxation, and the list goes on and on in terms of the challenges. Talk to us about some of those challenges we have to overcome if we're going to get people to invest in Canada.