I have done some inquiries with respect to this. One of the questions--and we don't really have any staff here to comment--is just how effective this committee has been. I'm referring now to the existing committee. I know we have CMAC, which reports I think twice a year, and then this committee, which meets more often.
Some of the members I spoke to suggested that in fact Mr. Julian's recommendation--and whether it's a replacement committee or an expansion of the existing membership, the concept is to perhaps add more stakeholders, labour in particular--would be appropriate. These were informal comments; nobody really wanted to go on the record. But in the discussion I had with them, they felt this would benefit the discussions by having a greater range of input.
From a pragmatic point of view, I don't know whether the recommendation is to simply expand rather than replace...in effect by the portion of Mr. Julian's motion stating “labour, a broader base of marine and industry stakeholders”, or to do as he suggests, which would result in a name change from National Marine and Industrial Council to the National Marine Policy Advisory Council. The feedback I've had from those involved is that the concept of expanding it would be good.
If there's no one who has any particular suggestions, I'm prepared to support the motion the way it is, or a variation that would simply expand the existing NMIC to include the recommendations in Mr. Julian's motion.