Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to start by saying thank you to all the witnesses for having taken the time to participate and present on today's finance committee meeting and I hope that everyone is staying healthy and safe during this extremely challenging and unprecedented period.
I believe that we can all agree that the government is putting programs in place that would typically take up to a year or more to roll out and we're doing it in weeks. Of course, nothing will be perfect, but if I may paraphrase, perfection is the enemy of the very good.
I'd like to ask several questions, but I will begin by asking two. One will be addressed to Ms. Torjman and a second will be addressed to Ms. Spinks.
Ms. Torjman, you have quite a bit of experience working with different levels of government, and your field of expertise straddles both federal and provincial jurisdictions, as well as matters devoted to territories and municipalities. We are in a crisis situation and we need coordination and co-operation between the different levels of government, which we've seen so far.
In your opinion, how can the federal government continue to support provincial, territorial and local efforts with the views that we all have the same objective, which is making sure that Canadians are safe, healthy and economically secure?
My second question is for Ms. Spinks. Another item I want to touch upon is the charitable sector that, in addition to government, serves vulnerable families. In my home province of Quebec, for example, the provincial government has organized a common volunteer registry to assist charitable organizations, notably food banks. Our Prime Minister made a huge announcement today to help the food banks—to the tune of $100 million—cope with a surge in demand.
Is there anything, in your view, that the federal government can do with such organizations while still promoting strict adherence to public health guidelines?