Ladies and gentlemen, I call the meeting to order. We are missing a couple of our colleagues, but I'm sure they will be here momentarily. We do have quorum, and it's a few minutes past our scheduled start time, so we will begin.
Welcome to the 22nd meeting of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates. We are studying estimates and budget.
Today we have officials from the Department of Finance here in Ottawa, as well as some of our friends and colleagues from across the sea, from the United Kingdom, who will be joining us via video conference.
I believe, Mr. Leswick, that you have a brief opening statement. We will have you begin, sir. Then once we have completed that, we'll go directly into questions and answers.
Go ahead, Mr. Leswick, please.