Thank you, Chair.
Following up on my question—perhaps Mr. Williams or Mr. Vigneault are best suited to answer this—I was talking about the importance of science remaining independent.
There are a couple of examples that I wanted to provide quickly.
We know that recently the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner launched an investigation into whether or not senior DFO officials were muzzling scientists—those are the words that were used quite often at that time—regarding the research into the threats posed by open-net salmon farms in B.C. waters, and we know the work of Dr. Kristi Miller-Saunders and of others was suppressed for 10 years.
With just these two examples that are handy in front of me right now, do you agree that there is a problem and that science needs to be independent from political influence?