Certainly, I'd be happy to answer. I was saying that this is the first step and that your own government has a panel looking at how to divest itself, and I'd be happy to share this with you. But it is something the government has asked for, and you've had a panel look at this, how to divest itself with “partnerships”, which is code for getting the government out of doing the business of regulation.
I simply underline the importance of dealing with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and what the government has reportedly been doing already.
The final point I want to make, which is really important to my mind, Mr. Chair, is that this goes back to Treasury Board wanting to have all agencies and boards and ministries save money. That's not news; that's a fact. Why was the Canadian Food Inspection Agency engaged in this? They were directed by Treasury Board. Every ministry was. Everyone knows that in this town. So what's the motivation here?
We saw program review in this city with the previous government. It wasn't pretty. And we thought we were out of that and into rebuilding government structures and agencies again, and now we have a new gang in town and they think they can do a better job of taking government apart. I say that as something that should be stated from the beginning, that this was Treasury Board driven.
This government is trying to save $2 billion in its operating. We all know that. Mr. Baird told me that personally, publicly, and everyone knows it. As Treasury Board president, he asked all agencies, boards, and ministries to come forward and provide savings. So it's about the money.
I think Canadians would rather have investments in their Food Inspection Agency than try to save a couple of dollars for a government to look better, and that's the bottom line on this.