Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses and Mr. Hildebrand. Congratulations to you and your team.
What I've come to learn on this committee is that these trade agreements are never a sprint. They're a marathon. It's great that we're reaching the finish line and we're just about there.
Also, just recently we commemorated the memorial of the Holodomor, a man-made famine caused by the Stalin government that took place in Ukraine and killed millions of Ukrainians. We're talking all about food here, and their food was taken away from that rich land and millions of Ukrainians died.
This agreement is not only an economic agreement. It's not only a political agreement. Really, it's symbolic for the diaspora here, for all the Ukrainians. My wife is of Ukrainian background, and knowing that this agreement is going through will be something that we will be able to share with many of our diaspora communities from coast to coast to coast, so congratulations.
I did want to ask about who initiated the agreement back in 2009 or 2010. Was it Canada or Ukraine? Who reached out? Who said that this would be a good thing?