Thank you, Madam Chair.
If you don’t mind, I am going to take one minute of my time to introduce a motion. I would like us to go over this motion together when we will study current committee business.
You can circulate the motion.
It reads as follows:
That the Committee study resources to ensure that Canada is able to fulfill its responsibility to develop a national blindness prevention strategy, pursuant to resolution 56.26 adopted by the World Health Organization in 2003, called Vision 2020: The Right to Sight. The strategy should be based on four major objectives: to integrate vision care into already existing health care systems; to provide sustainable funding and other resources; to ensure that the care is fair and accessible to everyone, not only to the rich; and to ensure excellence on all levels.
My apologies to the witnesses for introducing it right away, but I would like Canadians to be informed of what we do in committee, since I find in camera meetings exasperating.
I am now going to ask the witnesses questions. In November, the Conservative government made significant changes to the National Research Council Canada. One of the first effects of those changes is the loss of hundreds of research jobs related to the National Research Council Canada.
As a witness, do you feel that the changes made by the Conservative government to the National Research Council Canada will help you in your work? Is that a good thing for research in Canada?