Thank you very much, Clerk. Congratulations to our vice-chairs. We also have our parliamentary secretary, as Terry Beech is also a member of the committee.
Welcome to meeting number one of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance. Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the House order of November 25, 2021. Members are attending in person in the room and remotely using the Zoom application. The proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website. For your awareness, the webcast will always show the person speaking rather than the entire committee.
Today's meeting is also taking place using the webinar format. Webinars are for public committee meetings and are available only to members, their staff, and witnesses.
Members enter immediately as active participants. All functionalities for active participants remain the same. Staff will be non-active participants and can therefore only view the meeting in gallery view.
I would like to take this opportunity to remind all participants at this meeting that taking screenshots or photos of your screen is not permitted.
Given the ongoing pandemic situation, in light of the recommendations from health authorities as well as the directive of the Board of Internal Economy on October 19, 2021, to remain healthy and safe, all those attending the meeting in person are to maintain two-metre physical distancing and must wear a non-medical mask when circulating in the room. It is highly recommended that the mask be worn at all times, including when members are seated. Members must maintain proper hand hygiene by using the provided hand sanitizer at the room entrance.
As the chair, I will enforce these measures for the duration of the meeting. I thank members in advance for their co-operation.
To ensure an orderly meeting, I would like to outline a few rules to follow.
One, for members participating on Zoom, you may speak in the official language of your choice. Interpretation services are available for this meeting. You have the choice at the bottom of your screen of either “floor”, “English” or “French”. If interpretation is lost, please inform me immediately, and I will ensure that interpretation is promptly restored before resuming the proceedings. The “raise hand” feature at the bottom of the screen can be used at any time if you wish to speak or to alert the chair.
Number two, members participating in person may proceed as you usually would when the whole committee is meeting in person in the committee room. Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. If you are on Zoom, please click on the microphone icon to unmute yourself. For the members in the room, your microphone will be controlled, as usual, by the proceedings and verification officer.
When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly. When you are not speaking, please ensure that your microphone is on mute.
I remind everyone that all comments by members and witnesses should be addressed through the chair.
Regarding the speaking list, the committee clerk and I will do the best we can to maintain a consolidated order of speaking for all members, whether they are participating virtually or in person.
I would now suggest that for the next order of business, the committee proceed to consideration of routine motions. In preparation for this, the committee clerk has circulated a list of routine motions that the committee adopted in the last parliamentary session. The committee clerk can also answer any questions that you may have about the routine motions.
I'm going to recognize Ms. Dzerowicz.
Oh, I apologize; I did see Mr. Beech's hand go up. Go ahead, Mr. Beech.