Good afternoon, everyone. I now call this meeting to order.
Welcome to meeting number 30 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology. Pursuant to the order of reference of Saturday, April 11, the committee is meeting for the purpose of receiving evidence concerning matters related to the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Today's meeting is taking place by video conference, and the proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website.
I'd like to remind the members and the witnesses to please wait before speaking until I recognize them by name. When you are ready to speak, please unmute your microphone, and then return to mute when you are finished speaking. When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly and hold the microphone for your earbuds close to your mouth, if you are using earbuds, so that the translators can do their work. It is also very important that you make sure that your channel is on the appropriate language, the language in which you are speaking. Therefore, if you are speaking English, please make sure it is on English. If you are speaking French, please make sure it is on French.
As is my normal practice, I will hold up a yellow card when you have 30 seconds left in your intervention, and I will hold up a red card when your time for questions has expired.
I would now like to welcome our witnesses.
We have with us Magda Fusaro, rector of the Université du Québec à Montréal, and Denis Martel, rector of the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue.
From the University of Calgary, we have president and vice-chancellor Ed McCauley. From the University of Toronto, we have Matt Ratto, associate professor and Bell University Labs chair in human-computer interaction. From Universities Canada, we have Mr. Philip Landon, vice-president and chief operating officer.
Each witness will present for five minutes, followed by our rounds of questions.
We will start with Professor Ed McCauley, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Calgary.
You have the floor for five minutes.