We'll call the meeting to order. Welcome to meeting number 22 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.
Pursuant to Standing Order 81(5) and the order of reference of Tuesday, February 16, 2021, the committee is undertaking its study of the supplementary estimates (C) 2020-21.
Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the House order of January 25, 2021. Therefore, members are attending in person in the room and remotely using the Zoom application.
The proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website. So you are aware, the webcast will always show the person speaking rather than the entirety of the committee.
I'd like to take this opportunity to remind all participants of this meeting that screenshots or taking a photo of your screen is not permitted.
To ensure an orderly meeting, I would like to outline a few rules to follow.
Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name.
If you are on the video conference, please click on the microphone icon to unmute yourself. Those in the room, your microphone will be controlled as normal by the proceedings and verification officer.
A reminder that all comments by members and witnesses must be directed through the chair.
When you're not speaking, your mic should be on mute.
As you are all aware, there's a vote scheduled at 4 p.m. eastern time today. I'd like to ask the committee members whether we have unanimous consent to begin the meeting so that we can hear from the minister. We can suspend after 20 minutes of bells to provide ample time for everyone to cast their votes. If that's agreeable for the members, we shall proceed in that fashion.
Do I have a commitment to do that? We'll go through the first 20 minutes of bells and then break for the vote. Is that agreeable for everyone?