Thank you. That's a concern to me, because it certainly seems inconsistent with the intent of the act that it shouldn't be involved.
I do well understand, Mr. Chair, that COSEWIC is there to deal with only the status of the species, but I would also like to warn the committee that there is no such thing out there as something called “the science” that is going to tell us what to do. Science, first of all, only amounts to the opinions of scientists; and the scientists, we've heard, disagree. Secondly, science is only there to state the facts. It's up to the government to weigh benefits and costs, and we can't escape that obligation by putting it off onto something called “the science”.
My next area of inquiry, if I have the time, is to ask about consultation. In particular, if any of you have a notice that a species was going to be listed as endangered, and consequently the impact of SARA was to come into effect, and you might think that you had science or scientific opinion that said otherwise, can you tell me what sort of process would you be involved in in the consultation and determining of presenting that point of view and in also presenting the socio-economic impact? How long would it take you to gear up the necessary studies and response to such a listing recommendation?