Thank you, Mr. chair.
I thank the witnesses who are here today.
I am going to ask questions based on your diagram of page 7. I will limit myself to three issues: assessment, protection and recovery planning.
When a species is listed, it is largely based on a scientific analysis and report as well as on the reports of COSEWIC. That organization tries to assess the vulnerability of the species and to determine if it is threatened.
Is it standard procedure for the department to list a species which, according to scientists, is vulnerable or threatened? Is it automatic?
Let us take a specific example: marine fish. From what I understand, the government has always rejected the recommendation of COSEWIC to list species of marine fish as endangered species.
How can you explain that the department, which should in theory trust its scientists, can ignore their recommendation?