Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the health committee. I want to wish you all a very happy new year. It's very good to see all these familiar faces again.
Now, today this is a surprising meeting, but we're here today, and I just want to read into the record the reason for this meeting. This is from Standing Order 106(4):
Within five days of the receipt, by the clerk of a standing committee, of a request signed by any four members of the said committee, the Chair of the said committee shall convene such a meeting provided that forty-eight hours' notice is given of the meeting. For the purposes of this section, the reasons for convening such a meeting shall be stated in the request.
In considering the request, the committee decides whether or not it wishes to take up the requested subject matter. There's no obligation on the committee to conclude debate; if it decides to consider the matter, it may do so when it wishes, so basically the matter under consideration is whether or not this committee wishes to take up the requested subject matter at this time. That's why we're here today.
I would like to open the discussion with Ms. Davies.