It looks as though this election is rigged, because they already have a name tag there that says “Chair/Président”.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Marc-Olivier, for conducting our election.
We should note that we're very well served by one of the most experienced and well-respected clerks in the House of Commons, Marc-Olivier. It will be a pleasure having him guide us through the next number of years.
It's a great honour for me to be elected as the chair. Just as a point of curiosity, I was a member of the founding committee when this committee was first struck. I think that was in 1998, when the chairman was Reg Alcock. We played a role in putting together the scope and the mandate of this new committee. This is the newest committee in the House of Commons, with an interesting and broad mandate. I don't think anybody has even tested the boundaries of the mandate of this committee. The scope and the scale of it are virtually whatever the members decide within the parameters of this committee.
There are a bunch of routine issues to get out of the way when we first establish a new committee. As a start, I think it might be worthwhile, because we have lots of time, to just go around the table and introduce ourselves. There are some committee members who are brand new to Parliament, never mind brand new to committees.
So maybe take 30 seconds or something to introduce yourself and what your background was prior to getting elected. Or if you're a veteran MP, perhaps tell us when you were elected and what your committee work has been.
I'll start. I'm Pat Martin, MP for Winnipeg Centre. I was on the government operations committee as the vice-chair in the previous Parliament.
Nycole, would you like to introduce yourself?