Thank you all very much.
I will explain the role of this committee and a bit about how we operate. We usually meet twice a week. Sometimes we'll have a meeting of the subcommittee on agenda. Some committees have subcommittees operating as well, but ours doesn't at this time.
The committee studies and reports to the House on all issues that the committee members together decide they want to study. We study those and then report to the House. The report will be tabled in the House as a recommendation to government. That is, of course, on any issue dealing with international trade, in the case of this committee.
The committee is currently doing a study of Canada's trade policy. We're looking to others from other countries to help us determine, from their own experience, what has worked in improving trade in their countries. We'd certainly welcome any of that advice from you today as you speak to us, answer the questions, and make your presentation.
The committee, as you know, is made up of members from all parties in the House, divided roughly according to their percentage of members of Parliament in the House of Commons.
I want to introduce the staff here at the committee as well. There is Michael Holden, Peter Berg, and Elizabeth isn't here today. We have as well the clerk of the committee, Norm Radford. He's the person who did the work in setting things up with you so that you could be here today. The researchers provide expert advice, and we appreciate it very much.
This is a regular meeting of the committee. We will be breaking for lunch sometime shortly after noon for about ten minutes to get some sandwiches. You can bring them back to the table, and we'll carry on with the meeting. We only have roughly an hour and three-quarters left and we want to use that time to best advantage.
Having said that, we'll get right to our presentation. I understand just one member of the delegation is making the presentation. If you would go ahead and do that, we're looking forward to it.