Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Ladies and gentlemen of the public service, it's always nice to see you, as well as you, Minister. It's always a pleasure to talk to you.
Mr. Minister, you started off by talking about the cost of living. Those were almost your first words. Cost of living, of course, means government spending, and that spending needs to be controlled.
Following a request for information from my colleague Mr. Mazier, we received a report on the expenditures made by Canada during its participation at the conference in Dubai on January 29. The figure doesn't include everything, since there was other information to come, but we're talking about a total expenditure of $1,353,307.09. As far as you're concerned, Mr. Minister, your air transportation cost taxpayers $13,239.83.
When you were on the plane going there, did you think about the cost of living for citizens?