Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would just like to respond to a few comments about process and the process we went through in dealing with this act. I'm a Member of that committee, Mr. Chairman, and, in fact, the committee did not support this act. In fact, it is black and white -- we have already read it into the record -- that the committee found some difficulty in supporting it.
The reason for that was largely due to some lack of detail about how the colleges were going to be established, but also a lack of real definition of what the new Science Advisory Council was going to be like. But, the main concern was the one I raised, which is the one relating to the ability of this legislation to get some responsible body that would be responsive to it in time of need. It was never expected that there would be an ongoing relationship between the Assembly and the institute.
It is very much like the Power Corporation, where the Minister, from time to time -- even though it has a board and has independence -- in days of need or emergency, has somewhere to turn to get something done. Those issues were listened to by our committee and that is why, as I've said, the committee didn't support this act. The Minister has gone some way, and I give him credit for trying to rectify some of the concerns of the committee.
But, on analysis of his proposed amendment, it doesn't go far enough in giving the Assembly some kind of entry into getting something done on an emergency basis, when it has got nowhere else to turn that it feels confident in. That's the only purpose of this amendment: to give some certainty that when it asks for something, it will get it, rather than asking for something and finding that there are other priorities that can't be set aside and that it had better look elsewhere.
I agree with our Law Clerk who says it is likely that anytime this very important body asks for something to be done, it would be done. But, we, as legislators, always want to find some way of making sure that there is some certainty and that it isn't left to the politics of the day. We would like to have something a bit more definite and certain than is proposed by the Minister's amendment to his act. But, I do give him credit for trying. Thank you.