Colleagues, I want to welcome all of you back to the finance committee. I hope you all had a good summer back in your constituencies.
Today we are starting, pursuant to Standing Order 83.1, our pre-budget consultations. This is the first pre-budget consultation of the finance committee in the fall. We have, colleagues, about 400 witnesses who will be appearing before the committee over the next couple of months, both here in Ottawa and across the country. We certainly look forward to these discussions.
We have six groups with us here today. Each will have a five-minute opening statement before the committee. Then we'll have questions from members.
I'll go down the list, and we'll have the groups speak in the order that I outline.
First we have Pembina Institute. Second we have Care of the Child Coalitions. Third we have the First Nations Tax Commission. Fourth we have the Canadian Gas Association. Fifth we have the Green Budget Coalition. Finally we have BMO Capital Markets; we have, I think appearing as an individual, Mr. Johnson.
Starting with the Pembina Institute, you have five minutes for an opening statement.