I call this meeting to order.
Welcome to meeting number five of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance. Pursuant to the House of Commons order of reference adopted on December 2, 2021, the committee is meeting on Bill C-2, an act to provide further support in response to COVID-19.
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 available via the House of Commons website. The webcast will always show the person speaking rather than the entirety of the committee.
Today's meeting is also taking place in 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'd like to take this opportunity to remind all participants in this meeting that screenshots or taking photos of your screen are not permitted.
Given the ongoing pandemic situation and in light of the recommendations from the health authorities, as well as the directive of the Board of Internal Economy of October 19, 2021, to remain healthy and safe, all those attending the meeting in person must maintain two-metre physical distancing, wear non-medical masks when circulating in the room—and it is highly recommended that the mask be worn at all times, including when seated—and maintain proper hand hygiene by using the provided hand sanitizer at the room entrance. As the chair, I will be enforcing these measures for the duration of the meeting, and I thank members in advance for their co-operation.
To ensure an orderly meeting, I'd like to outline a few rules to follow.
Members and witnesses may speak in the official language of their choice. Interpretation services are available for this meeting. You have the choice at the bottom of your screen of floor, English or French. If interpretation is lost, please inform me immediately, and we will ensure interpretation is properly 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 alert the chair.
For members participating in person, proceed as you usually would when the whole committee is meeting in person in a committee room. Keep in mind the Board of Internal Economy's guidelines for mask use and health protocols.
Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. If you are on the video conference, please click on the microphone icon to unmute yourself. For those in the room, your microphone will be controlled as normal by the proceedings and verification officer. When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly. When you're not speaking, your microphone should be on mute. I remind you that all comments by members and witnesses should be addressed through the chair. With regard to a speaking list, the committee clerk and I will do our best to maintain a consolidated order of speaking for all members, whether they are participating virtually or in person.
It's now my pleasure to welcome our Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland.
Minister, we know how busy you and your department are, and we appreciate your being here with us today for these proceedings. I know that you're joined today by your assistant, associate deputy minister Nicholas Leswick.
Welcome, Minister and Nicholas.
We also have some of your staff here virtually from the Department of Employment and Social Development and the Department of Finance. I won't go through the list of names, but they are available if information is needed from them.
With that, Minister, we now are going to hear from you in your opening statement. After your opening statement, we will move to questions from members for a two-hour period.
Minister, the floor is yours.