Thank you, Mr. Dicerni, for being here. I would also like to say hello to Ms. Gillis and everyone here today.
Last fall in New Brunswick, the headlines widely reported the anxiety created by the rumours that the NRC's Institute for Information Technology in Fredericton was going to close its doors. That sector, which is still fairly new and fragile, employs 30,000 people. Its vitality depends on the presence of the NRC's Institute for Information Technology.
So I'm wondering what impact budget cuts of $66.7 million—an amount that was dedicated to technology clusters—would have on the NRC's activities in New Brunswick, as well as on the technology cluster that has developed around that institute.