Briefly, Mr. Chair. I don't understand the coyness, the paranoia with which the government members are operating. In November 2007 this report was found by Mr. Pomerleau. He was since let go or fired, after 20 years of good service to the country, apparently. If the allegations made by him are completely unwarranted, if his interpretation of the report is baseless, as the members opposite seem to be hinting, why not release the report?
Why would the government, last December, not have said, “This guy's allegations are off the wall; here's the report, Canadians”--Canadians who have a clear inherent interest in the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, after all. “Here it is, Canadians, judge for yourselves; we are not, definitely not reducing funding for this agency.” Why did the government not do that seven, eight or nine months ago? Why are they now wanting the witnesses to come forward without yet having provided the report to us and, by extension, to Canadians? What are they hiding with respect to the report? I'd like to challenge or ask the parliamentary secretary, why has the report not been released to the Canadian public?