Thank you.
Again, thank you to all of you for being here today.
I have to advise you that the first we heard of the $5 million reallocation of funding was yesterday or the day before, when the minister raised it in the House of Commons.
The budget quite clearly shows a cut of $5 million in operating dollars. When the Status of Women Canada staff were here, they indicated they weren't sure what arrangements were going to be made to account for it. Since there are fewer places to access Status of Women because of the cutbacks in offices, there's a cynic in me who wonders whether there's an intent to slip the money to show there's not really a demand for it, but I hope I'm wrong on that.
We've heard a number of you mention the issue of research. In my community I know of a number of research projects that have ultimately resulted in policy changes by government based on the research that was done, most notably one on the relation between elderly poor women and health.
Could you comment from your perspective on what effects the cutbacks in research funding will have for your organizations and for women generally?