Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I have two troubling questions, Minister. The first is why would you, knowing full well that the committee had passed a frank and clearly worded motion expressing its direction that the Prime Minister convene a full national summit on forestry, still go ahead with a three-hour session, knowing it would be inadequate for what this committee had set as a direction?
We've called your office for a list of invitees, and we've been told that it cannot be revealed to the public. So one can't help but feel there is some hidden agenda here, Minister.
Our report, which we've been labouring on for many, many weeks, won't be ready, but you would think it would be the focus of why you would bring people together, so they could start working on what we have proposed to the government as a direction, rather than going through all of the sludge work we've gone through. It really will set a national and international agenda for us, not a provincial or territorial one.
So I would question first of all why you would undermine this committee while knowing what our wishes were.
I guess the second question I would have is that this committee passed a resolution for $1 billion for forestry, but the amount provided was $330 million a year, and it was given carte blanche to the provinces. My question is that when we have a chance to have some influence with $330 million a year, why wouldn't we say at that time that these are some of the ambitions, directions, and goals of the federal government, as opposed to just transferring the money?
Thank you, Mr. Minister.