Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
My name is Michael Van Pelt, and I'm president of Cardus. I'm with my colleague, Ray Pennings, who is a Cardus senior fellow and director of our research. I appreciate the opportunity to appear in front of you today.
Cardus is a Canadian think tank, a research institution based out of Hamilton, Ontario. Our mission is to strengthen Canada's social architecture.
Regarding the purpose of our meeting here today, it has been our observation for some time that Canada and Canadians increasingly default to fewer and fewer institutions to solve the problems we meet day to day. This has come largely at the expense of many mediating institutions that make Canada a vibrant and flourishing society.
Today my colleague Ray Pennings will outline and analyze this challenge that we face in Canada and make the kinds of tax recommendations we would like this committee to consider.