Thank you, Madam Chair.
It's good to be back and to see everybody again.
Thank you to the witnesses for taking the time to be here today.
Just quickly, for my colleague across the table here, Mr. Sidhu, his comments mentioned that Conservatives want to remove the carbon tax. You bet we want to remove the carbon tax. I'm glad that Mr. Sidhu has finally come on board in hearing the message on that, but I would stress to him that it's not just Conservatives who want to remove the carbon tax, but premiers across the country. Now, even in Mr. Cannings' home province of B.C., the premier is moving away from the carbon tax. This is what Canadians are asking for. At the end of the day, the carbon tax is driving up the cost of groceries, home heating and getting goods to market. I just want to make sure Mr. Sidhu knows that it's not just us asking for this. We're reflecting the thoughts of Canadians across the country.
I might just share a bit of my time at the end with my new colleague on the committee, Mr. Williams, but I want to quickly ask Mr. Herman a brief question.
You mentioned, as part of your opening comments, softwood lumber always being an issue. The fact is that it wasn't as big an issue under the Stephen Harper Conservative government as it is today. It wasn't until the agreement ended in October 2015. All this government has been able to do is to secure a moratorium for the softwood lumber agreement.
I would like to ask you, Mr. Herman, if you see this as a bigger issue in terms of the relationship between the current government and the government down in the United States, coupling this with the digital sales tax that's come into force. Are these issues that will cause friction in that relationship?