Thank you, Madam Chair.
I welcome the witnesses who are here with us for the second hour of our study.
My first question is for Mr. Vincent.
It’s a pleasure to welcome you here at committee. I congratulate you on your long career as a professor emeritus. You have a pretty good résumé. You are the founder of ArcticNet. You also acted as the director of the Centre for Northern Studies at Laval University for eight years. I had the opportunity and privilege to visit; it’s fascinating.
As I just said, you were one of ArcticNet’s founders. Recently, the federal government publicly confirmed approximately $32 million of funding, which it had already announced in December 2023. However, this is a decrease in funding. Yet, scientific research is a priority for the government.
My question is simple: If scientific research is a priority, why reduce funding for ArcticNet and northern research?