Mr. Chairman, we thank the witnesses and we appreciate your thanking them, but while we're waiting for the next witnesses to sit down, I know that we sought to have officials from Natural Resources Canada to appear today to present and to answer questions. I understand that they just simply refused and wouldn't give reasons. I would like to see you, perhaps through the clerk or the chair, write to the department and ask for an explanation of why they wouldn't appear. And while we're at it, we ought to ask them what their plan is in terms of the process. Once the expert panel reports in November, what will be the process from there in terms of how that report is going to be handled? Will they come before this committee? There are those sorts of questions.
On October 19th, 2009. See this statement in context.