Well, thank you very much.
It would be great, Richard, if you were here too, but I totally understand why being in the Okanagan is something a little bit more desirable than being here in the committee room in the basement of West Block.
I want to thank the committee for doing the study on the free trade agreement with Ecuador. In principle, what I would say is that Canadians should certainly expect free trade agreements negotiated by Canada to respect the values that are important to Canadians, and the Ecuador agreement will be no different.
On this particular issue, through the negotiations, we certainly are going to need to talk to our Ecuadorian counterparts here because a negotiation is exactly that. It has to work for Canada, and it has to work for our trading partner. As you know, we need to balance the rights of investors, on the one hand, with those of a state able to govern in its own sovereignty.
On this one, we will make sure the negotiations will be in keeping with the values that are really important to all Canadians.