Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank the witnesses for being here. We've been studying this since the beginning of the summer.
I have to tell you, Mr. Wharin, that it's a little disconcerting to me, and I think to all committee members, what you said about how you feel you've been thrown under the bus and your voices are not being heard. Unfortunately, we've heard that from a number of stakeholders.
The minister was here last week, and he seemed to be oblivious to the state of emergency that this is causing. What you said about not being able to pass on costs and the onerous process in place to get some relief, we're hearing over and over again. I come from Oshawa where we manufacture, and I am really becoming concerned. As Mr. Simard was saying, once these jobs go, they don't come back.
Under this renegotiated NAFTA, the U.S. can still use section 232 to adopt new tariffs as long as the measures don't apply to Canada for a period of 60 days. Do you find that the level of uncertainty has decreased or rather remains as strong as it was before this new NAFTA? Some people are calling it “shafta” because it hasn't really done anything to help. Are you finding that the uncertainty has remained strong, given the continued imposition of section 232 and the threat of these future 232s? Did this agreement help at all?
Maybe, Mr. Wharin, you could start.