Thank you, Madam Chair.
Today was very interesting. We received loud and clear the individual interests as it relates to the different participants, but the overwhelming message that I received was to establish a strategy that takes into consideration individual participants—recognizing those folks who weren't here, the mandates attached to the same—as well as the need to work together to complement and strengthen local and national trade corridors. That's locally here within the region, beyond that within all of southern Ontario, the province of Ontario, and of course, feeding into an ultimate national trade corridor strategy.
The second part and the take-away I got from today was to establish, yes, an understanding of individual needs; however, consensus has been recognized that the trade corridor blueprint can only be accomplished if everyone is around the table. Thus, my question to you is very simple, and I think someone asked it earlier. How do we accomplish that?
The minister can in fact convene a process, which he has already, which is the trade corridor strategy, probably times six. Currently, we have three recognized trade corridors. One is the Asia-Pacific, the other is Ontario-Quebec, and the last one is the Atlantic region, but how do we expand that? How do we put more substance to those trade corridors as it relates to the assets that we have available to us?
It's unrealistic to think Minister Garneau is going to go out and start beyond what he has already done, working individually with the different regions, for obvious reasons. However, what I think is doable and what's realistic is that we have people such as his ministry, departments, this committee, individuals who can in fact start that process. Again, I throw the question back at you folks as a take-away: Where do we go from here? What are your thoughts on how we accomplish it, and in the short-term, how do we put together a trade corridor strategy that doesn't just lend itself to Niagara-Hamilton but ultimately to southwestern Ontario, the province of Ontario, and of course, feed into the broader trade corridor strategy, as well as the ports modernization review that the minister has also recognized?