Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you to all of the witnesses for coming here today. I'm going to start my questioning, please, with Mr. Nantais.
As you are obviously very much aware now, the Canadian government has not yet provided Parliament with an economic impact statement, despite being asked to provide one weeks in advance of these deliberations. That being said, the focus of my questioning is not on whether to ratify, but rather on the implementation side of it. I am hearing concerns expressed by businesses that there's a very short 90-day window between ratification and implementation.
The committee was advised that one of the most complicated elements of this agreement is the stringent rules of origin that must be met for products to qualify for duty-free market access under CUSMA, with significant impact on the auto sector.
As a first question, sir, do you have any concerns about the short timeline between ratification and implementation? Are you aware of any proposals to negotiate a longer transition period, even up to January 2021?