Thank you, Chair, and good morning, everyone.
It's important that we study the supplementary estimates. In Canada's parliamentary system, the federal government must seek Parliament's authority in order to spend taxpayers' money, and one of Parliament's fundamental roles is to review, approve and hold the government to account for its spending.
First and foremost, thank you to the officials present today. I believe we have nearly 10 witnesses with us. I'm disappointed that, unfortunately, we have only one hour of time dedicated to the study of these estimates and we were unable to have our Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development come forward to appear.
What I find disappointing, Madam Chair, is the fact that today is May 30 and tomorrow, regardless of what we do today, these will be deemed adopted anyway. It's late that we're at this point, examining the spending of two organizations that account for $47 million. From my standpoint, that's disappointing.
I'd like to first talk about Invest in Canada's promotional efforts. I'm reviewing some of the briefing notes prepared by our staff. There is mention that promotional efforts have “reached over 54 million business decision-makers in over five countries and increased investor interest in Canada by 90%”.
What are the metrics used to measure investor interest?