I call the meeting to order.
Before we start, I want to let you know what happened. Minister Fortier was to come today before the committee to speak to the estimates. Yesterday morning the clerk received a call, which I received shortly afterwards, telling us that Mr. Fortier was quite ill, that he had lost his voice, and could not appear before the committee. It's normal. People do get sick sometimes.
We're very pleased that the Privy Council Office decided on very short notice to come before us. They knew they'd have to come at some point, but they didn't have to do it within 24 hours. I thank you very much for being so collaborative to agree to come and fill in the void.
We will turn the mike over to you. If you'd like to, please introduce yourselves, then make a statement of up to ten minutes, and then there will be questions.