Ladies and gentlemen of the committee, good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.
I'm Elaine Flis, president of the Public Affairs Association of Canada. My colleague is Chris Benedetti, the association's past-president.
The Public Affairs Association of Canada is a national not-for-profit organization founded in 1984. PAAC's growing membership represents a cross-section of the many disciplines involved in public affairs, including policy development, government relations, communications, opinion research and public relations.
I want to say first and foremost that the Public Affairs—