Good morning and thank you for being here today. I'll try to ask a brief question in order to allow everyone to speak.
I had the opportunity to visit mainly eastern Canada. I met Mr. Donnelly at one point. Submissions were made to the government.
You say you are no longer partners; you seem to be “outside officials” of Canadian Heritage. That's what I understood. That seems to irritate you, and I understand your situation.
You nevertheless have some freedom in the approach you take in your requests. There are a number of levels, and you do business with a number of departments. Mr. Audet, Mr. Comtois or Mr. Léger spoke about that earlier. Someone even said that he was only receiving $2 million from Canadian Heritage, but $5 million from the other side.
You seem to be saying that you are indirectly officials of Canadian Heritage, but what is your relationship with the other departments that deal with you, such as Citizenship and Immigration and Health Canada? Do you feel free or not at all? You seem to be demanding a little more room and to be criticizing the fact that the money doesn't come. That problem seems to have been around for many years. I wasn't here before. You seem to criticize the bureaucracy for being slow. We won't hide it from you: I come from the private sector and I understand you. I won't make a big deal out of it; I did that for long enough.
How do you operate? Could someone give us an idea?