Thank you very much, Mr. Ripley and Mr. Champoux.
As you know, in 2010, if I am not mistaken, the government decided to review all activities in order to make the system more effective. It decided to abolish certain agencies, including the council you mentioned.
In the meantime, the department is actively leading consultations and discussions and giving an overview of the issues and challenges that matter to the artistic community.
For example, thanks to the discussions that were held this week and over the past few weeks at the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage as well as at other committees, we now have a fuller understanding of the issues.
As Mr. Ripley mentioned, part of our daily work consists in establishing contact with stakeholders, clients, artists and especially our colleagues at the Canada Council for the Arts. If there is any issue, we are at their disposal to talk about it. Obviously, we are here today to listen to the interventions and see what we might improve.