I think the answers are self-evident. We have great museums and they deserve our support.
But there was another item in the budget, which I didn't spell out—it wasn't in my speech—but is really important because the question has been raised. I think it's Scott who most persistently asks this important question.
As the Government of Canada, we have the indemnification fund. The indemnification fund is what it sounds like: the Government of Canada indemnifies collections and items that can move within the country and come in from abroad to our national museums and galleries. The annual amount that the Government of Canada can indemnify in a calender year is $1.5 billion. The problem in years past is that the $1.5 billion in exposure that the Government of Canada can assume per calendar year is very often consumed by March and April. It's usually the largest institutions in the country that take up that capacity: the ROM in Toronto, Glenbow, and other institutions like that.
In Budget 2012, the budget with the reductions but one that also protected all of our museums, we doubled the indemnification fund from $1.5 billion to $3 billion per year. There's $3 billion per year now of exposure assumed by the Government of Canada for collections, so it's been a doubling. Therefore, all these museums across the country that will have the capacity to become official partners with the Canadian museum of history will now be able to host collections locally that are housed in the national museum and can be eligible for protection and indemnification through the indemnification fund that we've doubled.
As a consequence, all of these museums will now have access to collections that they would never otherwise have had: first, because of the creation of the museum and then the signing of those partnerships; and, second, because we've doubled the indemnification found so they have access to those collections. These are two key measures that will benefit museums all across the country. That is why, for example, the Canadian Museums Association is supporting this legislation and these efforts. It will benefit everybody. It's not just about an institution here in the national capital; it's about the entire country. These reforms working hand in hand will benefit all of our museums.