Good morning, everybody. How are you this morning? It's a bright, sunny spring morning and we're very, very pleased to have you here.
We have a very complete and full agenda today, so you're going to find that I'm going to keep very strict time. For people who are questioning, if I say to you, “Do you have a question?”, this is your cue; it's because your time is running out. You have a choice of comments, whatever. You can talk your way through the whole thing, but if you want to ask questions and get answers, please be mindful of that.
The other thing is, I want to try to get as many questions in as possible today. So we're going to have five-minute presentations. I have a tendency to give you a little latitude because you are our presenters and we do want to hear what you have to say. So I'm going to say 5 to 10 minutes. I'll be flexible there, but I will stop you at 10. So if you see this red light coming on, you know that I hate to do it, but I'm just having to interrupt you because the objective is to make sure we hear all your presentations and get as many questions and answers from all members of the committee on this topic.
So pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), we are studying the cancellation of the HIV vaccine manufacturing facility under the Canadian HIV vaccine initiative.
We have our witnesses with us. From the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Mr. Stefano Bertozzi is a director...I'm sorry, it's Dr. Stefano Bertozzi. Certainly, you earned that title.
From Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, we have Dr. Alan Bernstein. And from the International Centre for Infectious Diseases, we have Heather Medwick.
Welcome. You're acting president and chief executive officer.
From the International Consortium on Anti-Virals, we have Dr. Jeremy Carver, president, chief executive officer and chief scientific officer. Welcome. And we have Patrick Michaud, chairman of the board of directors. Welcome as well.
From the University of Manitoba--my alma mater, by the way, and the alma mater of some of us around this table--we have Dr. Keith Fowke, professor, department of medical microbiology and community health services. From the University of Western Ontario, we have Dr. Ted Hewitt, vice-president of research and international relations.
So welcome. We will begin with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr. Bertozzi.