Thank you, Madam Chair.
I welcome the witnesses and thank them for being with us for this second hour of study.
Mr. Hik, the organization you represent plays a very important role. According to the organization's website, “Polar Knowledge Canada is responsible for … strengthening Canadian leadership in polar science and technology, and promoting the development and distribution of knowledge of other circumpolar regions, including Antarctica”.
Your colleague Anne Barker, from the National Research Council of Canada, who is also director of the Arctic and northern challenge program, said that Canada had previously been a world leader in northern research, but that it was no longer. I'd like to know why you think that is.