I offer my apologies to the witnesses for starting a little late. We had a member retiring today in the House, so we stayed for remarks concerning that.
This hearing is held pursuant to Standing Order 83.1 to undertake pre-budget consultations in advance of the 2018 budget. We held hearings this morning on the tax measures. We have to keep track of what we're holding hearings on.
In any event, I want to thank everyone for coming. We thank those who were able to forward their submissions prior to the mid-August deadline on the topics and questions we had outlined for doing so. That information is on members' iPads, You may see members looking at their iPads from time to time to see the briefs.
With that, welcome again. We'll start with the Agricultural Institute of Canada and Mr. Buy, chief executive officer.