Thanks very much, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to ask my questions of Mr. Lambe and Mr. McClinchey from the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. I'll let you gentlemen decide which of you wants to answer the question.
I want to start by saying that one of our colleagues, Vance Badawey, has done a tremendous amount of work on your behalf. He's not the only one, but certainly he's spoken to me about this issue on a number of occasions. I wanted to share that with you.
As you noted, the Great Lakes are a source of thousands of jobs in tourism and commerce. They provide clean drinking water for approximately 50 million people. They're an ecological trust. Could you share what would happen, what the consequences would be, if we were not to provide the funding you have requested?
I'm asking not so much about the process or programs, although that's important, but really what the impact would be on the Great Lakes. If we were explaining to my constituents in Etobicoke Centre what the impact would be, I think they'd be most concerned about what would be the impact on the Great Lakes. Could you articulate that for us?