Good morning, Mr. Chairman.
I would like to thank each of you for being here today, to help us gain a better understanding of the issue.
Before I give the floor to my colleague, I would like to explain some ideas that should be put forward here. First of all, I would like to reiterate our government's unswerving commitment to promoting linguistic duality in Canada and internationally. Our government believes it has an obligation to promote both official languages within the Canadian sport system, and within all aspects of Canadians' lives.
We supported this motion because we wanted to hear your version of the facts, and understand the process you used to select the captain of the Canadian hockey team at the World Ice Hockey Championships. We have absolutely no intention of politicizing our national sport here. So for that reason, I would again thank you for being here today.
I would like to point out that our government joins all Canadians from coast to coast to coast in wishing Team Canada the very best of luck, with a single voice. We are all proud of our team, and we hope they come back to us with a gold medal.
I will let my colleague Michael Chong have the floor.