I think the sooner we hear from the minister, the greater the opportunity and chance to move to the other things that are on this agenda will be.
I call this 15th meeting of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development to order. This meeting has been called pursuant to a request made under Standing Order 106 (4) of the Standing Orders of the House of Commons. The stated reason in the request for this meeting was to deal with the evacuation of Canadians from Lebanon, to deal with how Canada is working with its international community in the evacuation process, Canada's role in humanitarian aid, and also the crisis in the Middle East.
This was brought forward initially by four letters, and those were the reasons that this committee was called back.
We welcome you all to Ottawa on a very warm day. We are so pleased that this committee has so much attention drawn to it. We recognize the crisis that the world is in. We recognize Canada's evacuation of Canadians and how important that is. We look forward to hearing from the minister.
Minister MacKay, welcome to your committee. We look forward to hearing from you.