Thank you, Mr. Appleton.
To pick up on some of your further writings, you describe Canadian negotiators arriving with “fragmented notes”, while American negotiators arrived with “sharpened strategies”. In fairness to our negotiators, you do explain, in some of your writings, that this is the result of 10 years of not having sufficient institutional capacity.
If I can summarize your approach under the current government, you said it lacks “routine, structured and ongoing engagement”. It has “slower responses, fragmented input and gaps in practical knowledge”, so that “US negotiators consistently entered [the room] with more substantial leverage”, and that leaves “critical gaps in negotiation preparedness”.
Mr. Appleton, given that, is it your view that Canada, under the current approach, is unprepared for the CUSMA review?