We will commence.
Welcome, first of all, to our esteemed panellists this morning. We certainly look forward to having a chance to hear your presentations this morning.
To our committee members, who have experienced quite a week, we've travelled about 10,000 miles, I believe, and visited Whitehorse, Fort McMurray, Vancouver, and Saskatoon. But of course, this is the centre of the universe. Portage La Prairie is the place to be, and we're glad to be with you this morning.
As you know, the finance committee is charged with the responsibility of making recommendations to the finance minister for the upcoming budget, and this process is part of the preparatory work involved in that. We will be travelling to nine communities across the country, as well as hearing submissions in Ottawa. We just passed the 250-submission mark, so we're over the hump in terms of our work and we look forward to hearing the rest of our submissions.
I'll begin this morning by reminding you that you have five minutes to make your presentations. I will give you an indication when you have one minute remaining and when you have less than that, and I will cut you off at five--in the interest, of course, of dialogue thereafter.
Again, thank you for being here. We will begin with Lloyd Axworthy.
Welcome, sir, and over to you for five minutes.