Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you to the witnesses for joining us today.
I'm sorry Mr. London couldn't be with us. I had the pleasure of meeting with him in Toronto a few months ago. After talking to him, I understand that, in terms of the importance of this industry and the potential for this industry in Canada and the impact of rare earth minerals on industry in Canada, rare earth chemistry and the products that come from that support something like $31 billion in economic output in this country and that the companies that do this employ nearly 84,000 people with a payroll of $4.2 billion.
So I would have liked to see something in the budget of the Government of Canada showing a little more support for the development of this sector. You've talked already about the kinds of products that are made from and that rely on these minerals, and if in fact we don't have access to these minerals, the problems are obvious.
Ms. Moreno, you said you'd like to see the government do more. What would you recommend the government do? What policies should it implement to help the sector develop and what should the government avoid?
I'd also like Mr. Wilson to comment on that.
Ms. Moreno.