Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I am pleased to be here this morning to provide you with information on the arts and culture grants and contributions process in the department. With me is my colleague, Pablo Sobrino.
Pablo is the assistant deputy minister of planning and corporate affairs, so he has a broader picture of all grants and contributions within the department.
For my part, I cover most of the arts and culture funding programs--not all of them, but most of them--in the department.
Between the two of us, we hope to be able to provide you with answers to most of your questions.
You have in front of you a nine-page deck. I know that time is at a premium. We will speak to the deck
in order to leave as much time for questions and to speed up the process, Mr. Chair, I will move to page 2.
Since you are all members of this committee, I presume that you already understand the importance of culture for Canada's social and economic development, as well as the various programs and tools in place. I will therefore immediately give the floor to Mr. Sobrino.