Let me put a last question to the panel, if I could, Mr. Chair.
There are two directives. The cabinet directive on law-making came into effect in 1999, which includes, of course, the proposal of regulations. It replaced the 1981 directive on the preparation of legislation. It requires that the clerk at PCO examine the draft regulation with the deputy minister of Justice Canada. That's number one. I'd like to know whether that occurred before this plan was released.
Secondly, there's a cabinet directive on the environmental assessment of policy, plan, and program proposals. This requires a mandatory conducting of a strategic environmental assessment on any policy, plan, or program that is submitted to a minister or a cabinet for approval. This is a full socio-economic analysis—social, economic, and environmental analysis—that is usually done in partnership with the four line departments that were asked to come and brief us, as parliamentarians.
Can anybody tell us this? Were both of those documents, were both of those processes fulfilled before this plan was made public, with great fanfare at a considerable expense?