I call this meeting to order.
Welcome to meeting number 163 of the Standing Committee on Finance.
Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format. All witnesses have completed the required connection test in advance of the meeting.
Now I'd like to remind participants of the following points.
Please wait until I recognize you by name before speaking. All comments should be addressed through the chair.
Members, please raise your hand if you wish to speak, whether participating in person or via Zoom. The clerk and I will manage the speaking order as best we can.
Pursuant to Standing Order 83.1 and the motion adopted by the committee on Thursday, September 26, 2024, the committee is resuming its pre-budget consultations study in advance of the 2025 budget.
I'd now like to welcome our witnesses.
First, let me begin by thanking our witnesses for their patience. We did have a number of votes in the House. We are starting a fair bit later than our usual time.
With us today, we have Kim Moody from Moody's LLP Tax Advisors. I know that we had Kim Moody on before, and I guess we had some technical issues. Hopefully, everything has worked out this time and we'll be able to proceed and have you as a witness.
We also have with us, from the Canadian Steel Producers Association, the president and chief executive officer, Catherine Cobden, as well as the vice-president of trade and industry affairs, François Desmarais; from the Italian Canadian Savings and Credit Union Limited, Fausto Gaudio, president and chief executive officer; from the National Council of Canadian Muslims, Rizwan Mohammad, advocacy officer, and Manitoba advocacy officer Sadaf Ahmed; from the Toronto Police Association, its president, Clayton Campbell, via video conference; and from the Union québécoise des microdistilleries, Vincent Lambert, general secretary, and Nicolas Bériault, the co-founder of Distillerie 3 Lacs.
Welcome.
We are going to have each of the witnesses give their opening remarks for up to five minutes.
We are starting with Kim Moody for the first five minutes, please.