On April 29, 1988 the same day Filotas offered his comments in the Ottawa Citizen, newly appointed Transport Minister Benoit Bouchard sent a letter to all members of the board. Here are some of the words he used:

"As a Board member you are expected to give your full and unqualified supoort to Mr. Thorneycroft". (see Exhibit 43)

We must remember that at this juncture Mr. Sopinka's letter had been made public and that the four remaining members who hadn't signed the December 12, 1987 preliminary report, were in the process of drafting the final parts of a dissenting report. Since the CASB is an independent body, such strong and compelling words from the Minister can only reveal his biased position on the whole matter. Not only does the intervention border on eroding the independence of the board but it exposes a motivation on the part of the minister.

This is said because the new chairman, Ken Thorneycroft has endorsed the preliminary report. Hence when the Minister recommends to all board members to give their "unqualified support to Mr Thorneycroft" he is actually recommending that everybody get in line with the views of the new chairman.