Good morning. I want to welcome committee members.
I want to especially welcome the witnesses who have taken time to come to the committee today. We're so looking forward to hearing your presentations. We have a full complement of witnesses today, so we're going to have to stick very closely to the timelines.
Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the motion adopted by the committee on March 13, 2008, and section 25.9 of the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act, this is our fourth and final meeting with witnesses on the statutory review of the 10-year plan to strengthen health care.
We are very fortunate to have eight organizations with us today: the Canadian Health Professionals Secretariat; the Canadian Health Food Association; the Canadian Nurses Association; the National Aboriginal Health Organization; the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami; the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada; the Canadian Health Coalition; and the Canadian Medical Association.
Because we have such a large complement of witnesses, we're going to have a maximum of five minutes for presentations per organization. Following that, we will go into the question period.
We will begin with Ms. Elizabeth Ballermann, co-chair of the Canadian Health Professionals Secretariat.