I have comments on a couple of things that have been said.
First of all, I don't think we need to go as a committee to these institutions. I think that any member of this committee who wishes to visit any of the national institutions would be welcomed with open arms by the staff there. They would give you the royal tour and you'd have a good perspective. I invite members to do so. There are even times during the week when it's free of charge. We can find that out for members.
But in doing that, we should be very careful in substituting ourselves for the boards that each of these institutions have in terms of setting priorities and asking for government support as required. There is a relationship we have to be respectful of.
In the fall or perhaps even next week, if we have an open meeting, I have no difficulty with having the Canadian Museums Association come before us, because there are thousands of museums in this country.
Monsieur Kotto is absolutely right, sir. A lot of work had been done in the past government to the point of moving forward on a financial recommendation for greater support.
The Canadian Museums Association has invited all of us, individually, I suspect, to meet. I've met them and I know others have. They've got a great presentation, which basically states there's full agreement on where we as a country want to go on that.
If the government of the day wishes to pick up that work and move on with it, it's ready. I'm sure the Canadian Museums Association would be delighted to come and tell us that. Let's start there instead, hear from them, and then take whatever other steps may be required.
In the meantime, I'm serious about this. If any of my colleagues on the committee want to come around for a couple of days or even one day this summer, we can organize a visit. I'd be delighted to host it, along with
the people who work in each museum.