The reason that the chief foods officer and the president are de facto members of that expert panel is to make sure that CFIA, at whatever level, is forthcoming with whatever information that panel asks for. That's the reason they're on there. That's pretty much standard, I would think, throughout government: to make sure that the panel doing the interview or the inspection has the ability to move forward with timeliness and usable information. That's the major reason that the president is a de facto member and that he and Dr. Brian Evans, our chief food officer at this point, are taking point.
On October 25th, 2012. See this statement in context.