I call this meeting to order.
Welcome, everybody. This is meeting 103 of the Standing Committee on International Trade.
Before we begin, I have to remind all members and other meeting participants in the room about important preventive measures.
To prevent disruptive and potentially harmful audio feedback incidents that can cause injuries, all in-person participants are reminded to keep their earpieces away from all microphones at all times. As indicated in the communiqué from the Speaker to all members on Monday, April 29, the following measures have been taken to help prevent audio feedback incidents.
All earpieces have been replaced by a model that greatly reduces the probability of audio feedback. New earpieces are black, whereas the former earpieces were grey. By default, all unused earpieces are unplugged at the start of a meeting. When you are not using your earpiece, please place it face down on the middle of the sticker you see in front of you for this purpose. That's the reason for the sticker. Please consult the cards on the table for guidelines.
The room layout has been adjusted to increase the distance between microphones and reduce the chance of feedback. These measures are in place to allow us to conduct our business without interruption and to protect the health and safety of all participants, including our interpreters.
Thank you all very much for your co-operation.
Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on Tuesday, October 17, the committee is resuming its study of Canadian businesses in supply chains and global markets.
On our first panel, we have, from the Arctic Gateway Group, Michael Woelcke, chief executive officer, and Cory Young, vice-president, corporate services.
From the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, we have Jimi Onalik, president, and Michael Walsh, director general, policy and planning.
From the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario, we have Lucie Perreault, executive director.
Welcome to you all.
The format is a bit different because there have been changes. Our microphones were giving us too much feedback. You're a little farther away from us. It's not that we want you to be so far away. I've said that pretty soon we'll need binoculars to see who is down at the end of the table.
Thank you all for being here.
Mr. Woelcke, I invite you to make an opening statement of up to five minutes.