The question of independence will have to be proved. STIC doesn't report publicly; it reports to cabinet. Its reports are not necessarily going to be public knowledge. The high end of a national science advisor is to provide sound, non-partisan, unbiased, independent science advice, and the reporting mechanism should provide for that.
As I say, the two things should be complementary. You have to remember that prior to STIC there was the Advisory Council on Science and Technology, and before that the National Advisory Board on Science and Technology, and before that the Science Council. So we have a history in Canada of experiments in science advisory--