The Senate agriculture committee is in the midst of an extensive investigation of agricultural research and adaptation, and taxpayers will be paying a significant bill for the resulting report.
In a report tabled in the Senate April 3, committee chair Percy Mockler from New Brunswick indicated that the estimated total cost of the committee hearings and subsequent report will be more than $600,000.
The figure does not include the salaries of the senators and committee staff involved.
After extensive hearings in Ottawa that continued last week, the committee and its 12 members will hit the road, holding hearings in each of the four Atlantic provinces as well as Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Then they will spend four days on a fact-finding trip to Europe, visiting London, Brussels, The Hague and Rome.
A report is to be presented to the Senate by the end of 2012.
