Good afternoon. Welcome, everyone.
Our meeting has been cut a little short. We will have close to a full hour with our guests.
Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture, welcome.
Also with the minister, we have from the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Andrea Lyon, deputy minister; Tom Rosser, assistant deputy minister, strategic policy planning; Pierre Corriveau, assistant deputy minister, corporate management branch; Fred Gorrell, assistant deputy minister, market and industry services branch; and from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency we have Paul Mayers, vice-president, policy and programs branch. Welcome, all.
Thank you all for being here with us today.
Replacing Francis Drouin, we have Chandra Arya. Welcome, Mr. Arya.
And for the Ministry of Agriculture we have Gerry Ritz. Welcome.
We'll start immediately. I will give the floor to the minister for 10 minutes.