Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to all of the witnesses for being here today at the finance committee. They were very interesting presentations. There was a bit of diversity in your presentations today, which is always welcome.
A couple of the witnesses have spoken about oversight of Canada's charities. There are many changes the government is proposing on this in the 2012 budget and in its budget implementation act, specifically regarding the political activities of charities.
I'd like you to speak a bit about advocacy and public policy work that charities do. For example, I know the food banks talk about hunger and about public policy. Is advocacy and involvement in the public debate important to charities?