I stand corrected. It appears the striped bass report was actually tabled three times. Because of parliamentary prorogation etc., the final time it was tabled appears to have been in the 44th Parliament, on January 22. The government's response appears to have been on June 22, 2022.
These studies, which we've already done, need to be fully disclosed to everyone who is going to be considered in this study. Whether that's the public watching this committee.... I've seen the number of people following this committee grow exponentially over the last number of years because they know the good, congenial work this committee does. Time after time, we put partisanship aside so we can do the right thing for the harvesters and the fish stocks. We have done that repeatedly over the years. There's been good work across the aisles, on both sides. I'd hate to see that sidelined, at this point, because Canadians deserve the best that we can do.
Those two reports—the one on Atlantic salmon and the second one on striped bass—are very relevant to this proposed study. The public and anyone interested in this committee need to be fully aware that those two studies and reports took place. If they aren't aware of that, it would be shameful, and shame on us for not bringing that to light. Yes, it can come up in questioning, in one meeting with government officials, but by the time the word gets out that there were previous reports, it may be too late for people to send us questions we should be asking those officials.
This would be very relevant to why now—after four years on the one study and eight years on the Atlantic salmon study—we are still in the predicament of studying the plight of Atlantic salmon. If there are recommendations in those two reports that could have made a difference, why would we not want to have them come to light as soon as possible in this study? To hide this, I think, would be absolutely shameful.