Well, Mr. Speaker, with the greatest respect to the Member, I did not say that we needed a biased southern expert. I said that one advantage of getting a person who is not from the jurisdiction is that they could not be accused of being biased or having an axe to grind, or carrying a particular agenda to the committee. That is, one guarantee of at least the appearance of independence would be to get somebody into this sensitive job who is not labelled as being associated with a particular mine, or a particular union, or a particular experience. It was exactly the opposite of my intention, which was to have an unbiased person in the chair.
Now, Mr. Speaker, with respect to the honourable Member's question about costs, the participants in this committee, I am happy to report -- that is, the members other than the chairperson -- will be responsible for their own costs, so the principal cost of this new consultation process will be the expenses of the chairperson. Mr. Speaker, the cost of employing the chairperson, who will be retained by the government, will depend on how long the committee takes to do its work. I am hopeful that if we have the right degree of good will and a business-like approach with this committee, it could be done within a couple of months; but at the moment, until the committee meets, I will not be able to estimate the length of time it will require, and therefore it will be difficult for me to estimate the total costs at this point. Thank you.