Industry committee  When a company that size shuts down—and this is unfortunately not the only closure to have affected the country or certain regions of the country, either in this or any other industry—when large groups shut down a plant which has hundreds of employees and survival committees such as my own are struck and begin lobbying potential buyers, those buyers know at that point that both governments and municipalities are anxious to see the company survive.

Industry committee  In my opinion, Mr. Laframboise, it was perfectly appropriate that I not be a party to the negotiations. We are talking about a company selling its own assets and another company that wants to buy those assets. I was not bringing any value to the process. So, as I see it, it was perfectly normal for the two companies to negotiate on their own.

Industry committee  Yes.

Industry committee  That is a question that you should put to Shell. I asked Shell that very question, Mr. Coderre, at the very beginning, when the union and the governments involved asked me to lead the process. That was the first question I put to Shell officials and I was told it was very serious about wanting to sell the company.