Thank you, Madam Chair.
Welcome to all of you three powerful women today, bringing your stories from different parts of rural Canada and your examples. Thank you. You've all touched a different part of us.
Dr. Timmons, first of all, congratulations to you on being the first woman appointed president of Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, my home province. Well done.
Dr. Timmons, as you know and as my colleagues have heard me say many times, I represent a large area, a land mass bigger than Switzerland, with literally hundreds of tiny communities, many of which you've seen.
One thing I do love about Memorial University is your many remote campuses throughout the province. As you mentioned in your speaking notes, there are 13 campuses.
If you can, I want you to expand a little on the importance of that and how we now have women attending classes in their own communities so that child care is not such a huge issue. They can still raise their children at home. Adult children who are helping in the family business or the local fish plant can still take classes nearby to upgrade their skills and get a new skill set.
Can you share how important these small outlying campuses are?