Thank you, Dr. Reid, for your opening remarks. It is a great pleasure for me to be here today with you, and to be able to thank all of you in person for your contribution to furthering our understanding of our physical environment for the benefits of all Canadians.
Sound science is the cornerstone of environmental progress.
Without your work, we would not have had the evidence we needed to make acid rain and ozone depletion national priorities. We would not have had the evidence we needed to provide the momentum to reduce levels of sulphur in gasoline. And we would not have had the evidence we needed to reduce levels of lead in our air to almost zero. Weather is a subject we all talk about. More recently the talk has turned to severe weather events.