Health committee  Representing the Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre, we have Jocelyn Enright, coordinator, community engagement, communications and fundraising. On behalf of Persons Against Non-State Torture, we have Linda MacDonald, co-founder, and Jeanne Sarson, co-founder. Welcome to all of our witnesses. You'll have five minutes for your opening statements. We'll begin with Dr. Fairbrother.

Finance committee  From the Macdonald-Laurier Institute we have a senior fellow, Mr. Philip Cross. He is with us here today in person in the room. With that, we're going to have some opening remarks by the witnesses. We'll start with the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment.

Agriculture committee  From the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition, we have Sinikka Crosland, who is the president. Welcome. From the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, we have Dr. Trevor Lawson. I believe he's a constituent of mine as well, so it's great to see you, Dr. Lawson. From the Humane Society International/Canada, we have Ewa Demianowicz. We look forward to having your testimony.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the officials for staying. In December, Dr. Charles Burton testified. He's with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. He testified that his U.S. counterparts felt that Canada did not need or was not a part of or did not deserve to be a part of important institutions like the three eyes.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. China's relations with the west, particularly China's strategies of hybrid warfare and the Chinese Communist Party's influence operations in western nations, are my area of expertise. I was educated in China, subsequently worked with the Communications Security Establishment and had two diplomatic postings to Canada's embassy in Beijing earlier on in my career.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity to give evidence to the committee on the current state and future of Canada's diplomatic capacity in a turbulent world. The geopolitical landscape has undeniably transformed in the past decade. The return of great power competition to the centre stage, particularly between the United States and the People's Republic of China; the rise of regional powers such as India and Turkey as more assertive actors in international politics; democratic backsliding across the world; the emergence of an authoritarian axis between China, Russia and Iran; and, of course, the return of major war to Europe with Russia's unprovoked and illegal war of conquest against Ukraine, just to name a few, are key developments we witnessed in the past decade or so.

Health  Are addicts’ lives changed for the better by a strategy that, in the final analysis, leaves far too many dead? What do the experts say? In a forthcoming Macdonald-Laurier Institute report by Adam Zivo, Dr. Meldon Kahan, who recently retired as medical director of the Substance Use Service at Toronto’s Women’s College Hospital, said that most patients who are actively using fentanyl will be far more attracted to the tablets than to opioid agonist therapy, OAT.

Agriculture committee  I would just encourage you to make sure that the maps the federal government is using are actually accurate with respect to the time when they are most needed. Dr. Kochhar, thank you very much for coming. We haven't had a chance to have you at committee in a while. In his questions to the minister, my colleague Mr. MacDonald mentioned the P.E.I. potato wart issue.

Agriculture committee  Dr. Filejski, I have a quick question based on the conversation you just had with Member Drouin. Are the drugs you're talking about new drugs, or are they existing drugs that are being used in the United States presently?

Agriculture committee  Thank you. I'm going to switch to Dr. Vaillancourt. The previous panel talked about having a disparity across the country relevant to several things inside biosecurity. You mentioned something about regional differences in your preamble. I was wondering if you could expand on what you think.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you for your opening statement. You were right on time. We'll now go to Dr. Heather Exner-Pirot for five minutes. She is from the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and is here by video conference.

Natural Resources committee  Good morning, Mr. Chair and committee members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. I'll focus my remarks on three areas: critical minerals, investment tax credits and nuclear energy. There is widespread consensus in the resource sector that we are not competitive enough in attracting investment in this country and that Canada's businesses, workers and economy have suffered as a result.

Natural Resources committee  From the Canadian Labour Congress, we have Bea Bruske, the president, and Alex Callahan, national director of health, safety and environment, by video conference. From the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, we have Dr. Heather Exner-Pirot, senior fellow and director of natural resources, energy and environment, also by video conference. From the Net-Zero Advisory Body, we have Dan Wicklum, co-chair, by video conference.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and members. Here are my disclosures. First, I do not belong to or donate money to any political party, or allow lawn signs during federal, provincial or municipal elections. Second, I was mortgage manager of the fourth-largest BMO branch in Canada—the Ottawa main office, now the Sir John A.

Canada Early Learning and Child Care Act  That is the title of a report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, co-authored by economist David Macdonald and Canada's leading champion for early childhood education Martha Friendly. We have child care deserts in this country. We have areas where children are not yet in kindergarten and parents have no hope of getting their child into a child care space because there is only 20% coverage for children in those communities.