Welcome to meeting number 7 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs.
I am going to skip all of the preamble today.
Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on October 27, the committee is commencing its study of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the financial health of veterans organizations.
Welcome to all of the witnesses who have taken the time to join us today.
We have with us from the Royal Canadian Legion, Steven Clark, national executive director, and Lynda Mifflin of the Legion in Gold River; and from VETS Canada, we are joined today by Debbie Lowther, chair and co-founder.
For the witnesses' sake, let me say that you will each have five minutes for opening remarks. When you get down to one minute, I will hold my finger up. Don't panic: a minute is a long time to wrap up your thoughts.
As well, when we get into questions from Members of Parliament, I will also give the one-minute warning—keeping in mind that I try to be as liberal as possible with the time and give people an opportunity.
I see that Rachel Blaney thought that was funny. Nobody else did. Thanks, Rachel.
We'll try to give everyone the opportunity to get their messages out and their questions answered.
First up, for the first five minutes, is Mr. Steven Clark, national executive director of the Royal Canadian Legion.
The next five minutes is all yours, sir.