Thank you, Madam Chair.
As is customary, I'll begin by thanking you all for being here. Thank you for coming. We are very glad to have you. Despite your no doubt busy schedules, you've made yourselves available to answer our questions.
Your presentations dealt with very different sectors. They were certainly diverse.
In discussing this agreement, we haven't heard much about the sugar industry or the digital sector. My question, then, is for Mr. Geist. Our interpreters do a great job, but it's not always easy given the fast pace of the discussion in many cases. I'd just like you to clarify something for me.
We've heard about various data collection scandals involving different companies. We know that, despite everything, the trend is towards liberalized digital trade, which is what you talked about in your presentation.
If we take a closer look at digital giants such as Google, Amazon and Facebook, we realize that their workforces are actually quite small, much smaller, in fact, than that of the automobile sector at one point in time. Nevertheless, the digital issue goes way beyond those who work in the digital sector outright. All companies have now made the digital transition.
Given the trend towards data collection and liberalized digital trade, can you tell us whether the current agreement favours increased data collection by big companies?