I should provide some background. This is one of the reasons for raising this particular amendment in the act. It is not meant to be a crass, politically motivated decision in any respect; it's meant to be a means of strengthening the act in a fairly simple way.
No minister of the environment has ever met with the chair of COSEWIC previously to consider appointments to COSEWIC. The process initially took two months, under Ministers Anderson and Dion, and the time process has lengthened since then. And that's fine; there could be many reasons for it. In fact, I commended Minister Prentice in my correspondence with him and thanked him in person for meeting with me, acknowledging that this was a first and I hoped the first of many such meetings.
However, at that meeting, while we did indeed discuss the other nominees whose appointments were going to be made by the minister, we did not discuss this individual who was not going to be appointed. It was not among the papers that the minister had in front of him to discuss with me, and as a consequence, although I raised it with him as file folders were being closed, it appeared as though perhaps this was not an issue that—well, for whatever reason.... I'm not going to suggest a reason for this not being discussed. I did mention this other person's name, but it was not part of a full consultation.
This suggested amendment would simply allow for an opportunity..... I should also say that I did write to the minister and requested a meeting with him to simply identify some of the short- and long-term ramifications of the decision, with the intent of, in a private way, seeking a solution that was amenable to both, because I—