We'll now begin.
I'm very pleased to welcome today the Minister of Natural Resources, the Honourable Gary Lunn; his deputy, Ms. Cassie Doyle; and Richard Tobin, from the department.
Before we begin, I want to run over the schedule for today. I think the committee would like to hear opening remarks from the minister. Following his remarks, I think we will revert to questions, any questions the committee would like to ask, either on the remarks the minister is about to give on his estimates or on virtually anything within the department. I'm not going to hold you back from asking pretty much anything you want to ask.
I would suggest to the committee that we wrap up the session of questions by about 5 o'clock at the latest, if the minister could stay that long. We would then go through the estimates, not so much line by line, but there are half a dozen votes that we might take among the committee, if it's acceptable to the committee.
Very well. Without further ado, let me introduce the Honourable Gary Lunn.