I call the 41st meeting of the Standing Committee on Finance to order.
I want to apologize to members and witnesses for the delay due to technical difficulties, but I understand from Mr. McKay that the Liberal caucus had a very boisterous meeting this morning and, I understand, put the mikes to full use.
We have with us here, for the first hour and a half, six organizations. I will list them in order of presentation: the Canadian Co-operative Association; the Canadian Union of Public Employees; the Canadian Olympic Committee; the Canadian Natural Gas Vehicle Alliance; Canada's Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies; and the Partnership Group for Science and Engineering.
If we could ask each of you to have a maximum opening statement of five minutes, we'll go down the line and then go immediately to questions from members.
We'll start with you, Mr. Anderson.