Mr. Chair, if this were a private business and I was trying to pick my team, I'd be picking based on skill first, not on regional representation. When we're dealing with these kinds of agencies, it's good to have regional representation. However, staff has already told us there is no problem. We do have regional representation; it is not a problem. Now we're going to enshrine in our legislation restrictions that may in the future prevent us from actually appointing people who have the skill sets we need at that very time.
By the way, this is not an avian flu situation when we're talking about location. No, the problem with the avian flu, because I lived it, was an issue of the testing facility not being in Abbotsford or close to our area. It was in Winnipeg. If CFIA had been in Abbotsford and avian flu had hit in Toronto, you'd have the same problem, under your scenario.
I'd like to also point out two other points. We're talking about five versus six members. Typically, you'd want to make sure that you don't have a hung jury. You don't want to have a stalemate, so you'd want to have an uneven number, unless you're going to give one individual an extra vote, which certainly increases that individual's vote.