I call this meeting to order.
Our orders of the day include the commencement of our study on Bill C-9, An Act to implement the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (ICSID Convention).
In our first hour we will hear testimony from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. We have Allan Kessel, legal adviser, and from the international trade side of the department we will be hearing from Robert Ready, director of the services trade policy division.
We are also pleased to have from the trade law division Riemer Boomgaardt, special counsel; Sylvie Tabet, senior counsel and deputy director; and Meg Kinnear, senior general counsel and director general.
In our second hour we will hear from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, so we will introduce them when we begin that.
This is one of the first pieces of legislation that this committee has looked at, other than a private member's bill, so we look forward to this. This is a fairly small bill. We want to hear from the department to better understand exactly what the bill does and the safeguards it provides for Canadian investment and others.
So we thank you for being here and being part of that.
On the protocol for the committee, we like to hear from you in the first portion of the committee business and then go into the first round of questioning. In the first round we'll begin with the opposition and then go to the government.
We welcome you here and look forward to hearing what you have to say. The time is yours.
Mr. Kessel.