Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I wanted to extend my welcome to everyone here at the committee, and also to the Bangladesh delegation that's here. Welcome to our committee.
Before I get into my questioning, Mr. Chair, I want to just clarify for the record that we, as a committee, sent a very strong message a month or two ago about ensuring that we have deputy ministers at this table.
I see that Ms. Jacovella, associate deputy minister, is here. We welcome you. However, you are not a deputy minister, and we were hoping we could clarify why the deputy minister isn't here?