Canada is really proud of our contribution. When I say our contribution, I really mean the leadership of Canadian labour through the capacity and technical sort of assistance funding that Canada provided to help with the rapid response mechanism and the development of that, particularly in Mexico.
If you look at how integrated our market is and how we want to do this more, what you really want are workers who are paid fairly and well, and you want the ability for unions to do their work in Mexico. Canada has played a very important role. During the first or the second free trade commission that took place in Mexico, the USTR, the economic secretary and I visited one such centre to see it in its development. I would say that this is a hallmark of one of the successes. When we talk about competitiveness in North America, it has to include competitiveness that protects and ensures that there are high-paying jobs for workers in all three countries.
In response to your question, Canada's contribution has been a good one, and it's been a useful one. I certainly hear directly from labour leaders in the U.S. as well as in Mexico about their gratitude for the Canadian expertise. We are trusted, and we are experts in providing that expertise, which has really helped. In fact, at the last couple of free trade commissions, the U.S. brought forward labour leaders specifically to give us, all three of the countries, an update on how that part of it was working.
At the end of the day, competitiveness in North America has to include growth and investment for our businesses and well-paying jobs in our sectors in our three countries. I think there's a tremendous opportunity here in Mexico, in particular, because of the volume of workers they have, and I think that this bodes well for the North American relationship.
