Environment committee  Well, it's your interpretation, and I've—

Environment committee  I suppose what I'm asking you to do is to consider this as a potential recommendation to deal with an issue that I feel is probably worth dealing with, from both a political perspective and from a COSEWIC perspective. There is another possibility the committee might consider, a

Environment committee  It was declined at the end of February.

Environment committee  I will initiate one, but we will not be able to make a decision on it till November.

Environment committee  The initial letter regarding appointments was made in May of last year and we received a decision on it in late February of this year. We anticipate no change in the future. Even if we are able to reach a decision on a nominee in November, it might be yet another calendar year fo

Environment committee  Let me clarify what I wrote to the minister.

Environment committee  Let me clarify something you mentioned earlier. I did not criticize the minister's decision. One of the roles of COSEWIC is to advise the minister, so I would have said it was inadvisable.

Environment committee  You mentioned it, sir, in your opening remarks, in your preamble to that question, so I simply wish to clarify. Secondly, it was COSEWIC's perspective that I wished to have a meeting with the minister. I did not state verbally or on paper what I felt the ramifications were, beca

Environment committee  COSEWIC makes its decisions and evaluates potential nominees at its biannual species assessment meetings. The next one of those takes place in November.

Environment committee  The Canadian Endangered Species Conservation Council is, of course, another body that must be consulted by the minister—

Environment committee  —as the act currently indicates. The intention here is to include COSEWIC along with CESCC in that regard. Presumably, in terms of a formal consultation, I would anticipate it would not require a great deal of time or effort under those circumstances where—

Environment committee  I've already stated as such this morning.

Environment committee  Basically, the minister currently has 90 days, or three months, to issue a response statement. Once the assessments have been communicated to the Governor in Council, the Governor in Council has nine months to make a legal listing decision. So it's basically three plus nine.

Environment committee  I consulted with members of COSEWIC. Basically, what happened is that I established a SARA parliamentary working group two and a half years ago. That working group met and made some recommendations. Then, in March, prior to being notified that I might be appearing before this c

Environment committee  No.