Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to this meeting, which is part of the pre-budget consultations. As Mr. Easter, the regular chair, is absent, I will be replacing him over the next hour.
Many witnesses are here. We are hearing from: Morna Ballantyne, Executive Director of Child Care Now; Brendan Marshall, Vice-President of Economic and Northern Affairs of the Mining Association of Canada; Sarah Watts-Rynard, Chief Executive Officer of Polytechnics Canada, who appeared before us last week. We are also hearing from: Michael Gullo, Senior Director of Policy and Public Affairs at the Railway Association of Canada; Victor Wong, a member of that same association's Tax Committee; Ole Hendrickson and David Snider, both directors at the Sierra Club Canada Foundation; Victoria Lennox, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Startup Canada; and Richard Rémillard, Board Director of that same organization.
Without further ado, we will hear from the first witness.
I would like to pass the mike over to Child Care Now with Morna Ballantyne, Executive Director.
It's good to see you and thank you for coming.