So that we're all clear here, it's pretty clear that Mr. Byrne is trying to hijack the agenda of this committee, and he's doing a pretty effective job of it, I have to say.
If this amendment fails, we go back to the main motion; we're never getting to aquaculture. Let's be clear about that. So Mr. Byrne should know that when he goes to the west coast the next time, he needs to tell all the people who write me hundreds and hundreds of letters about aquaculture on the west coast that he was unwilling to spend some time continuing a study we had already begun.
Mr. Blais says he doesn't know what the work plan might be for aquaculture. He's right about that, but we certainly have a better idea of what it might be as opposed to the work plan for snow crab. We have nothing limiting it in terms of time or interest or anything else that I can see here, apart from the comments that have been made. This amendment of Mr. Calkins is just stating a priority: that we continue with what we've started. We've had a number of meetings on it, and this seems to make sense to us on this side.
If that amendment were to pass, we're certainly not opposed—let me say this again—to finding a way to empower the chair, if there's an empty slot, to bring in witnesses on any topic, including crab. I think an amendment could be made to the main motion after amendment to specify that, if it seemed necessary. We'd be happy to do that.
But really, what we're saying on this side is pretty clear. We've started aquaculture, we've abandoned one study already, the work plan is out the window, and we have no idea what we're doing here. A case could be made for returning this whole thing to the steering committee and trying to figure out where we're going, because it looks to me as though we're in chaos at the moment.
But we have this motion on the floor, like it or not, and I think this amendment should be passed so that we give an order to the studies we're going to do, with the understanding—by motion, if necessary—that if there are empty times, when we don't have people to come in on aquaculture, we can bring some in on crab or any other topic. We on this side don't have any difficulty with that.