Mr. Speaker, I have listened to the member many times before on this particular topic. He and I went on a trip to Washington and met with various senators on this and other issues of interest to both sides.
He was absolutely right when he explained how the government was late getting into negotiations with the Americans. When the agreement was signed, we ended up getting the short end of the stick because, as he explained, by the time we signed the agreement, almost all of the available business was already spoken for. Potentially, only 2% of the U.S. recovery act money will even be open to Canadian bids at the end of the day.
Why was the government not aggressive earlier on this file and what was its intention in negotiating a one-sided deal, which gives us very little opportunities in the U.S., but, in turn, provides the U.S. a lot of opportunities in our market?