That's fair.
In reading your mandate letter, after you were appointed chief science adviser, I see that part of your responsibility is “to ensure that government science is fully available to the public, that scientists are able to speak freely about their work”, and that scientific analyses and materials are available to the public. I think that's great.
In my riding of Yellowhead, which is central Alberta west, we have an epidemic of pine beetles. They have attacked the forests, coming out of B.C. and into Jasper National Park and the pine forests of western Alberta. We are seeing a reluctance on the part of the federal government, which almost appears to be a conflict between different science groups about how to attack the pine beetle situation. We keep hearing that we are doing science and research, but we are never told what the science and research are.
I'd like to ask a favour of you. Maybe six months down the road, to give you a little time to get settled into your position, you could supply this committee with a report on what has been done in the last two years in science and research on the pine beetle situation, and what has been given to and shared with industry, to get a better concept. It's a very big, important issue in our part of the world.