Good morning, honourable members. Welcome to meeting number 10 of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. I call the meeting to order.
To ensure an orderly meeting, I would like to outline a few rules to follow.
Pursuant to the motion adopted on January 31, the committee is meeting to study vaccine equity and intellectual property rights.
As always, interpretation is available through the globe icon at the bottom of your screen, and for members participating in person, keep in mind the Board of Internal Economy's guidelines for mask use and health protocols.
I'd like to take this opportunity to remind all participants in this meeting that taking screenshots or photos of your screen is not permitted.
Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly. When you're not speaking, I would ask that you put your microphone on mute. I would remind members and witnesses that comments should be addressed through the chair.
Before we begin, I'd like to flag that we have a number of small housekeeping items to deal with at the end of the session. I would like to reserve some time at the end to take care of that.
Without further ado, I'd like to welcome the officials who are with us today.
From the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, we have Stephen de Boer, ambassador and permanent representative of Canada to the World Trade Organization, and Joshua Tabah, director general, health and nutrition.
Welcome to the committee.
From the Department of Industry, we have Darryl Patterson, director general, and Mark Schaan, acting senior assistant deputy minister, strategic and innovation policy sector.
Welcome.
Mr. Tabah, I understand that you'll be making the only opening statement before the committee this morning. I will turn the floor over to you.
As customary, I will signal colleagues and witnesses with this yellow sheet of paper when you have 30 seconds remaining in your testimony or questioning. It has proven to be an effective method of keeping time, so I would ask you to keep an eye out for that.
Mr. Tabah, the floor is yours for five minutes. Please go ahead.