Bonjour, colleagues.
In our second hour, we're very pleased to have the Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and officials from his department, including Greta Bossenmaier, who is the associate deputy minister of foreign affairs, and Bruce Hirst, who is the assistant deputy minister and chief financial officer. We thank the Minister of Foreign Affairs for working with our committee in the past and also for working with our clerk in making this appearance possible.
As the chair of this committee, I note that the cabinet has always treated us with the utmost respect and has consistently and readily responded to our calls to appear before this committee, and we appreciate it very much.
You're here today for the main estimates. We look forward to your comments, Minister. You know the ritual, and then we will go into that first round of questioning.
We have been requested to stop at 5:15 for committee business. I'm not certain if that's something the committee wants to think about. At 5:15, I may ask the committee again if it wants to do that.
Mr. Minister, we look forward to your comments.