Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I thank all the guests for coming today.
I want to start with Chris and Chris. It's good to see you guys. I'm glad to have your input on this issue. It's certainly an issue that we as a province have struggled with, arguably for the last 60 years, commercially.
I want to touch on something as we start. In an earlier comment, my colleague referenced his work as an ecologist and said that maybe with regard to some of these pests we've done enough research. It seemed as though he was indicating that maybe we should take the approach of just allowing the cycle to run its course.
I was wondering if you would like to delve into that a bit, Chris, and just elaborate on the past economic pressure the spruce budworm has put on Atlantic Canada—not only in New Brunswick, but with New Brunswick being the most liable province because of our proximity to Quebec—and on how invasive this species is for a province that's as small as ours when we have such a huge problem right next to us.