Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague. I know the work he does and how Ukrainian Canadians have touched his community, as they have touched mine.
Right now we have pretty modest growth. With our diaspora of 1.3 million Canadian Ukrainians, our trade right now is less than $300 million a year. The potential is huge. It would not only strengthen those cultural ties but would help both our middle classes. It would help the middle class in Canada grow and have opportunities through the many sectors in which we could trade with Ukraine and the many products and services we could acquire from Ukraine.
This is a tremendous opportunity, one that I think has for too long been lost by Canada not tapping into those diaspora communities. I have to say that Ukrainians must be one of our largest diaspora communities, at 1.3 million people.