Certainly. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I appreciate the time of the witnesses today and their great information. I look forward to hearing some more details from you.
I'm going to start with Mr. Michaud, please.
A witness in a previous meeting talked about some of the concerns with our water use in Canada. I'm from Alberta, and I have to apologize for not being familiar with every other provincial jurisdiction. I know that in Alberta and some of the other western provinces, we have a real problem with what's called “first in time, first in use”, which means that whoever had the original water licence can hold on to that water licence in perpetuity, whether they use it or not, while there are farms, ranches, or other users that are really struggling.
Is this a missed opportunity for us or something that we as a federal government have to start taking a look at in terms of who has the water licences and who has access? Do we have to take a stronger look at best use and best practice for those finite water resources?