It's all gentlemen today. We're going to begin this 15th meeting of this session of the Standing Committee on International Trade.
A couple of regular members are absent today. We have important business to do. I think we're going to have a minor adjustment to the agenda, so let me clarify that before we start. I don't think we're going to have time today to get to the Canada-U.S. trade relations report on procurement.
A couple of motions were suggested to the committee that may be coming forward today. I'm told there was not sufficient 48-hour notice from when they were filed last Tuesday, so we'll have to deal with those Tuesday next. I think there's general agreement about these matters with all parties, so I'm just clarifying that for the record.
Today we're simply going to hear witnesses. We have a very impressive lineup. I understand there are also some pressing matters for some members around five o'clock, so this may necessitate an earlier adjournment. That will still give us over an hour with these witnesses. If that's agreeable to everyone, let's begin.
Today as witnesses we'll welcome back Alex Neve, from Amnesty International. It's always a pleasure to have you here. Thank you for coming.
We have Robert Blackburn, a senior vice-president of SNC Lavalin International, and a former colleague in the PCO a few years ago. Mr. Blackburn, it's nice to see you again.
And we have Paul Moist, national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
We have an interesting day ahead.
We're going to ask each of our guests to commence with a ten-minute or less opening statement, following which we will go to questions in the normal fashion.
Mr. Moist, if you're prepared to begin, I'll ask you to start.