It's a real pleasure for me to welcome you, gentlemen. I will make two points before asking questions.
First of all, when I was in a provincial parliament, I asked many, many times to have the privilege in the province of Quebec to have that kind of institution. I think it's very useful. It's non-partisan. We have a clear indication of how things are running for this country. Thank you for the job you are doing. We know it's not very easy. That was the first point.
The second point is that I want to pay my respect to Mr. Fréchette.
Mr. Fréchette, you were the first non-parliamentary Canadian official to greet me at an informal meeting a year ago, when we arrived in the House of Commons. I appreciated your courtesy.