Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I want to welcome Ms. Weatherill here and thank her for taking on the huge responsibility it is to deal with this.
I would like to start off by saying that part of what you're doing is helping to restore confidence in our food safety system. Part of our government's obligation has been to not only restore confidence but to take the lessons learned and take them a step further to better the food safety system in Canada, which is already one of the best in the world. We shouldn't forget that.
I have to tell you that I got some phone calls from my local area when people heard that you were doing this job. As a former CEO of the Capital Health Region, you might remember Joan Hertz or Jack Dennett. They called. Jack, a former board member of yours, talked about how knowledgeable and dedicated you are and how aggressive you are when it comes to getting the job done. He also gave you credit for very modern thinking and a way of working with staff and working towards getting your angle very aggressively. So it has all been very complimentary. I have the utmost confidence, and the people in our area who have worked with you have the utmost confidence, that you will do an excellent job for us.
Now I want to get back to some of the testimony you have already given. You talked about a subpoena. We have had the unfortunate job of having to subpoena witnesses to some of our committees in the past. You know that it's generally--not generally, but always--when a witness refuses to come forward, when you're having trouble eliciting information from them, that's very important. Have you had any of these problems with any of the people you've been trying to meet with--and in fact, not just meet with; I believe your words were “participate in investigative interviews with”? Have you experienced any problems that would lead you to believe that you need the subpoena power?