Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome to the 18th meeting of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology, but the first meeting regarding our study on the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.
Before us today we have the Hon. Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for Science and Technology, who is also the minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. Joining him is Robert Dunlop, assistant deputy minister for the science and innovation sector.
We will begin with the minister having approximately 10 minutes of opening remarks, and then we'll go until we hear the bells this afternoon.
I would also like to advise committee members that you'll have a draft report coming out tomorrow by e-mail regarding our previous study. That'll give you some time to take a look at it before the first meeting for us to consider the draft, and that will be on Monday. This is to give you a heads up to watch your e-mail for that so you can take a good in-depth look at it over the weekend.
Minister, we're glad to have you here today. Please begin your opening remarks.