Thank you, Mr. Chair, and hello, everyone.
I think what we've established here today is that the government is working to diversify trade and ensure that exporters can access markets around the world. We know that modern and efficient ports are critical to making this possible. All the witnesses have talked about that.
I'm wondering if you can tell us, from your perspective, how important the federal investments in port infrastructure are, including the trade corridor programs, in ensuring that Canadian exports can reach international markets and make Canada more globally competitive.
I think you can look at this from both of these perspectives: You can look at the $4.2 billion that was invested in the diversification corridors fund. I believe that $847 million of that $4.2 billion in the NCTF was spent in Quebec. You can talk about the monies that were allocated or the new monies, the $6 billion in the new diversification corridors fund. How is this going to make us more competitive?
I wonder if you can boil it down to maybe three or four points. We can start with Mr. Laberge to kick us off.