Ms. Ashton, you have just 10 seconds remaining. I'm going to stop you there.
Mr. Théberge, we greatly appreciate your being with us today. We are always delighted to have you. I also want to thank the officials who joined you, Pierre Leduc, assistant commissioner of the policy and communications branch, Ghislaine Saikaley, assistant commissioner of the compliance assurance branch, and Pascale Giguère, general counsel in the legal affairs branch. It was a pleasure to have you all, and I hope we'll have an opportunity to see you again next year. Thank you everyone.
I will now suspend the meeting momentarily so the witnesses from the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages can take their leave and the second panel of witnesses can join us.
The committee is meeting today to discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the government's ability to deliver information in both official languages.
I would like to make a few comments for the benefit of the witnesses.
Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. When you are ready to speak, you can click on the microphone icon to activate your mike.
As a reminder, all comments should be addressed through the chair.
Interpretation in this video conference will work very much like in a regular committee meeting. You have the choice, at the bottom of your screen, of either floor, English or French. When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly, and when you are not speaking, your mike should be on mute.
I would now like to extend a very warm welcome to our witnesses, who will start things off with opening remarks. They will each have seven and a half minutes, followed by rounds of questions.
I want to let you know that I use a card to signal that you have a minute left and a red card to signal that you are out of time. I have the difficult job of interrupting you when you are speaking.
Joining us, we have Linda Lauzon, executive director of the Association de la presse francophone, Fatiha Gatre Guemiri, executive director of the East Island Network for English Language Services, and Jennifer Johnson, executive director of the Community Health and Social Services Network. From the Public Service Commission, we have Patrick Borbey, president, and Susan Dubreuil, acting director general of the personnel psychology centre.
Ms. Lauzon, you have seven and a half minutes for your opening statement. You may take it away.