Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to thank all the witnesses for being here today. I think I speak for all my colleagues when we say that this summer, after the recent proposed changes by Health Canada, we were all inundated with emails from our constituents and businesses in our community indicating great concern about this issue. I moved the motion to call Health Canada to come before this committee to explain themselves and I moved the motion to have you here. I just want to say that I think it's very important to have your voice on the record prior to our making decisions in this matter.
You know, I've been here 15 years, and this is at least the third iteration I've seen of Health Canada spontaneously, and without industry involvement, unilaterally trying to propose profound changes to a regulatory structure that, when I look at the 2003 report, strikes me as being unnecessary.
My first question is this, Mr. Skelton. There was a reference to 1998, when the first NHP regulations came in. I have a report in my hand from 2003—that's 20 years ago—reporting from Health Canada on the 53 recommendations. You referred to this already. Do we or do we not have a sophisticated regulatory structure in place in Canada right now for natural health products?