Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise to speak to what is a very important issue for all Canadians in every region of our country. I thought maybe a good way to start it off would be to talk about the per capita foreign investment that we witnessed in 2023, where we saw that Canada, on a per capita basis, was number one out of all the G7 countries. In fact, if we take a look at all the countries around the world, we actually placed number three. That is important because it speaks volumes about where investors are looking to invest, and Canada is a prime destination for foreign international investment. One of the reasons for that is that they see in Canada an environment that values trade.
As I indicated earlier, no government in the history of our nation has signed off on more trade agreements with other countries than this government has. We understand the true value of international trade. And as the weeks and months go on, what we will be seeing is a great deal more discussion about trade between Canada and the United States because of the re-election of Donald Trump to the office of president. That will take effect, as members are very much aware, in January 2025.
I would like to emphasize that, when one takes a look at the first round of negotiations, one needs to reflect on the role the Conservatives played in opposition when the trade discussions between Canada and the United States got a little tense. The Conservatives and their leader—