I call this meeting to order. This is meeting number 8 of the Standing Committee on Finance. Our orders of the day are, pursuant to Standing Order 83.1, for continuation of our pre-budget consultations 2013.
Colleagues, here is a very short housekeeping note at the start. I hope many of you are utilizing the paperless system on the iPads. If you need any assistance, we have our technical person in the back, who is providing some very good help for us, Mr. Martin Lacaille. If you need some help, please feel free to contact him or have your office contact him to get set up.
Colleagues, we have six witnesses before us during this hour and a half panel. First of all, from Cambri Development Group Incorporated we have Ms. Cecelia McGuire, controller; from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, senior policy analyst Madame Monique Moreau; from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation we have the federal director, Mr. Gregory Thomas; from the Canadian Union of Public Employees we have the national president, Mr. Paul Moist; from Canadians for Tax Fairness we have the executive director, Mr. Dennis Howlett; and from the Retail Council of Canada we have the vice-president, Mr. Karl Littler.
Welcome to all of you. Thank you so much for being with us.
You have five minutes maximum for an opening statement. We will begin with Ms. McGuire, please.