Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you to all of our witnesses for this very thoughtful discussion this morning.
As a point of disclosure, I should mention that previous to my political career, I was a lawyer in international commercial arbitration and did represent several companies, including some that we are very proud of here in Quebec, such as Bombardier, against foreign states under arbitration provisions, similar to what Mr. Van Harten was just describing as ISDS provided through contracts. I also did some ISDS through our trade agreements. Nevertheless, without putting any of my personal opinions on the table, I think it is important to discuss how Canada should move forward, particularly as we negotiate new trade agreements.
Before I ask a question, as a point of clarification or correction, Mr. Van Harten did say on the record that it was the United States that asked that ISDS be removed from the new NAFTA. I don't think that any of us who were not in the room should presume how those negotiations went down or what Canada's position had been at the outset.
Also, with respect to the previous conversation regarding the United Kingdom-Canada transitional agreement, I note that the ISDS provision is suspended in that agreement and would only come into force much later if the ISDS provision in CETA were ratified, which, as we heard earlier today and as we all know, is possibly not going to ever happen.
Let me get to a substantive question, perhaps for Mr. Warner and Mr. Herman.
I wonder if you could comment generally on your feeling about taking a case-by-case approach. Perhaps in some situations dealing with certain trading partners, ISDS could be used, whereas in other circumstances, for example, when dealing with partners whose judicial system we have great confidence in, it could be unnecessary in those cases.
Perhaps we could start with Mr. Herman.