Good morning, everyone. I now call this meeting to order.
Welcome to meeting number 24 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology. Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on Monday, June 1, 2020, the committee is meeting to study the Investment Canada Act. Today's meeting is taking place by video conference, and the proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website.
I'd like to remind the members and the witnesses, before speaking, to please wait until I recognize you by name. When you are ready to speak, please unmute your microphone and then return it to mute when you have finished speaking. When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly so the interpreters can do their work. As is my normal practice, I will hold up a yellow card when you have 30 seconds left in your intervention, and a red card for when your time for questions has expired. Please respect the time limits as we want to make sure everyone has a chance to ask their questions.
I would now like to welcome our witnesses.
From the Council of Canadian Innovators, we have Mr. Jim Balsillie, chair. From Blake, Cassels and Graydon, we have Mr. Brian Facey, chair, competition, antitrust and foreign investment group; and Mr. Joshua Krane, partner, competition, antitrust and foreign investment group. As individuals, we have Mr. Christopher Balding, associate professor, Fulbright University Vietnam, from Vietnam; and Mr. Omar Wakil, partner, Torys LLP. Each witness will present for seven minutes followed by rounds of questions.
With that, we will start with Mr. Balsillie for seven minutes.