Good afternoon, my dear colleagues
Welcome. This is meeting 23 of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, on Thursday, April 10, 2008. Today we will hear from Canada's Chief of Defence Staff as part of our study on Canada's mission in Afghanistan, and later in the day we will have a briefing on the crisis in Sudan and investments.
We will have time for committee business towards the end of the meeting. I remind all members that we are televised today and we should ensure that our cellphones and our BlackBerrys, all communications devices, will not disrupt our meeting. I say that to members of the committee as well as members of the audience, and I guess with that, the chair had better be certain that his is off as well.
In our first hour we are continuing our study on Canada's mission in Afghanistan, and we have appearing before us, I believe for the third time, from the Department of National Defence, General Hillier, Chief of Defence Staff.
Certainly we welcome you here. When we began the study from Foreign Affairs and International Development on Afghanistan, I think you were the first witness, and this meeting will conclude witnesses. So it's not that the first shall be last and the last shall be first; it's both. You're first and last.
We thank you for coming before our committee today, and we certainly look forward to the comments you have. You've been here before, and you also understand that there will be questions coming at the close.
I would like to remind my colleagues that General Hillier must catch a plane, so right at 4:30 he will be concluding his comments.
Again, welcome, and we look forward to hearing what you have to say to us, General.