What I wanted to read actually is one of the things with this new structure. It does have a clear mandate, and I'd just like to read it for you. The science and technology strategy announced the creation of a Science, Technology and Innovation Council, which is mandated to “provide the government with policy advice on S and T issues and produce regular state-of-the-nation reports that benchmark Canada's S and T performance against international standards of excellence”.
So the idea here is to give it a specific mandate, and it talks about reporting back for research commercialization, refining the four research priorities, establishing S and T strategy, using government procurement to stimulate business innovation, and improving the benefits to Canada from international S and T collaborations. What this government has tried to do is to look at science and have it accountable, have some really good reporting structures in there.
Getting back to the article by Mark Henderson from Research Money, he really did say you were hamstrung, that there was a lack of reporting mechanism to cabinet, that you did try to strengthen the mandate from Paul Martin, but nothing came of the attempt. Was that true?