Good morning. Welcome
To any visitors in the back, welcome to our continuation of the Standing Committee on International Trade's consultation with Canadians and stakeholders on the implications of the TPP.
It's good to be back in Ottawa, I guess. We've done six provinces so far. We started in British Columbia and then did the western provinces, and we did Quebec and Ontario last week. We're back here, and we're going to Atlantic Canada. We're saving the best for the last. We're waiting for all the seafood to come in and then we'll get out to taste it in the fall.
We have had a lot of consultations across the country. We've heard from many different stakeholders, whether it's the health industry or agriculture, but we haven't had many seafood people yet. Today we're focusing on the seafood industry.
I have to say to the witnesses that we're in a time in Ottawa when the votes can be called at any time. That may happen, but we're going to proceed as if there are no votes and we're going to go from there.
Today, on our first panel, we have two witnesses. We have Clearwater Seafoods and the Maritime Fishermen's Union.
I don't know if the Maritime Fishermen's Union is on the phone and can hear us, or if they are going to be coming in a little later.