Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Bonjour à tous.
Welcome to meeting number 73 of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology.
We are actually having two one-hour meetings, because although we know technology is moving at a rapid pace, there's still a complication with having multiple languages by teleconference. That's why we're separating the two meetings into one-hour meetings.
In our first meeting we'll have Martin Lavoie with us here live. He's the director of policy, manufacturing competitiveness and innovation with the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters. By video conference, from the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec, we have Françoise Bertrand, president and chief executive officer, as well as François Morin, chair of the information technology committee.
We'll begin right now, and we'll start with our live witness first.
Mr. Lavoie, I believe you've been told you have about six minutes for your opening statement, so please go ahead.