Minister, welcome, and distinguished executives. Welcome back to the table, Loyola.
I want to follow up on the plans and priorities, the estimates for DFO. You had mentioned that most of this is actually sunset funding. It's fixed-duration programming that is scheduled to come to an end.
Would you be able to provide the committee either today or perhaps as a follow-up from officials in writing exactly what those sunset programs are, what the impact will be in terms of positions and activities within the Department of Fisheries and Oceans?
I think we can agree that it's roughly $100 million to $150 million in sunset programming. Could you verify that this is actually a correct statement, and if so, what is the intention of the department in terms of replacing it or whether that is going to be the case?
If it is going to lapse within this fiscal year and the intent is to replace it with a successor program, the obvious assumption that the department is making is that they'll apply to supplementary estimates for the funding, which of course is a bit of a contradiction in that if you're intending to proceed with a follow-up program, a successor program, and you haven't built it into the fiscal framework for this particular year, if you're intending to use the supplementary estimates to do it, then you should be able to spell out to this committee at this point in time exactly what it is you're intending, if that is the stated intention of the department.