Thank you very much.
Our funding does show an increase of $14 million for next year, and that's because a lot of the funding we have is sunset funding that was renewed in budget 2012. Of that funding, $6.6 million is devoted to aboriginal consultation. That includes funding for aboriginal groups to participate in environmental assessment, because the government uses a whole-of-government approach in dealing with aboriginal groups and impacts that projects may have on their potential or established aboriginal rights and titles. The agency provides funding to aboriginal groups to participate in consultations during the course of the environmental assessment. Part of that funding is for aboriginal groups. The other part of that $6.6 million is for the agency to conduct those consultations.
In addition, we received funding to enable the agency to carry out environmental assessment of major resource projects. Prior to the enactment of the new CEAA legislation, all government departments were responsible for carrying out environmental assessment. That responsibility now falls to only three authorities: the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, the National Energy Board, and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
So CEAA is responsible for the environmental assessment of the major projects across Canada.