Human curiosity about the Universe probably began when in prehistoric times an early human raised its eyes to the sky and wondered about the nature of the bright sources visible there. We have advanced from this level mainly due to the enormous support that the public has provided to astronomical research. At first sight this is surprising as astronomical research does not directly contribute to the betterment of life for most citizens. Such benefits do accrue, however, incidentally as astronomy often forces new technological developments. Astronomy's appeal to the public exists because people are curious and want to understand their relationship with things that they see around them. The questions that people are interested in are the fundamental ones, ``Are we alone in the Universe?", ``What is the Universe made of?", ``How did our Solar System form and evolve?", ``How did the galaxies form?", ``Do things exist in the Universe that we haven't even dreamed of as yet?".
It is not only the public that is interested in such questions, most astronomers are also. It is the meshing of these interests that has resulted in a science vision for a new CFHT and a definition of a telescope that is capable of making enormous progress toward answering these fundamental questions. Framed more directly as scientific queries, the basic questions that the new CFHT will have to address are as follows.