Thank you.
Good afternoon, Chair Fonseca and standing committee members.
I'll keep to the script here, recognizing that we have just five minutes for these sessions.
I am pleased to join you here today, and I do want to acknowledge that I am on the unceded territory of the Algonquin people.
As noted, I'm Mike Tremblay. I have the privilege of acting as president, CEO and board member of Invest Ottawa.
For those who are not aware, Invest Ottawa is the lead economic development agency for knowledge-based industries in Canada's capital, facilitating economic growth and job creation in our nation's capital.
We're guided by a vision to help realize Ottawa's full potential as a globally recognized, innovative, inclusive and future-ready city delivering venture development, global expansion and talent programs and services that catalyze the growth and success of entrepreneurs and firms in the region and beyond. This includes small business training mentorship, acceleration and scale-up services for tech firms, foreign business and investment attraction, local business retention and marketing Ottawa's diversified economy and the high quality of life here as we try to attract businesses and investment.
Invest Ottawa is also the founder of Area X.O, which includes research, development and testing to accelerate the application of next-gen mobility tech. You'll see that in things like the autonomous vehicles and drones that we test here in the region.
In short, we foster and grow businesses and business interests in our region.
As a not-for-profit, we receive funding from all three levels of government, in addition to corporate sponsorships and investments; however, we are not a member of any level of government. I just want to clarify the context of Invest Ottawa.
For those who are here today, it will come as no surprise that Ottawa businesses have been deeply impacted by COVID-19, just like every other business across the country and around the globe. They've endured numerous shutdowns as a result of the ever-changing nature of the pandemic and, throughout it, have shown true resilience in the face of significant and ongoing hardship and challenge.
As we all know, at the beginning of this year, non-essential businesses in Ottawa and across the province had to close their doors once again due to the surge in omicron-related case numbers, but there was a glimmer of hope. On Monday, January 31, restaurants, gyms, theatres, museums and cinemas were all set to reopen at 50% capacity, providing a much-needed opportunity to generate income and to welcome Ottawa residents back to their businesses.
However, that wasn't able to happen. On January 28, the truck convoy arrived in Ottawa, which effectively shut down the Ottawa downtown core three days before businesses were set to open their doors once again. There were wide-ranging consequences of this demonstration, and many lessons to be learned, no doubt, but, as Invest Ottawa, the economic development agency for the capital, our focus remains forward looking and proactive and really having the single goal of helping our businesses, those that make up the very economic fabric of our city, to thrive once again. That's what we do. We're steadfastly committed to this goal, and we are working with our partners, collaborators and businesses to ensure they have the resources they need to once again demonstrate their resilience in the face of unprecedented challenges.
Thank you once again, Chair and committee members, for your time today.
I'm happy to answer your questions as this committee meeting ensues.
Thank you.