Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my hon. colleague, who gave a wonderful presentation on the challenges before us, how he sees Canada-U.S. relations can be improved, not only in trade but also in terms of the social issues that affect both our countries.
We know that we are both facing demographic challenges and an aging population. We know that we have huge health challenges because the pressures being applied to our health care systems vastly exceed the increase in GDP. I would like to ask my hon. colleague if he does not think that there are opportunities for cross-border collaboration in terms of being able to link up the universities, post-secondary institutions and think tanks to be able to get the best and brightest of both countries? Can we develop a formal mechanism through which those groups within our respective countries can collaborate more effectively to share the research and development in science and social policy fields that will enable us to grasp the best and brightest of what we both have in our countries, and apply them to the mutual challenges we face?