Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Minister, I first of all want to thank publicly Faith Scattolon down on the east coast. I recently had a tour of BIO, my fourth tour in nine years, and it was extremely well done. The staff down there did a great job. One thing they impressed upon me was the fact that science, even though there was a slight increase this year, shows that it may not have the accelerated increases that we're all looking for. So if you are going to cabinet asking for more money for science, I know on behalf on the people at BIO, they would greatly appreciate it in that regard.
I have a couple of questions for you, sir. If you don't have the answers now, perhaps it would be possible to get them later. It would be interesting to know the number of habitat enforcement officers for the central Arctic region. Have they decreased over the last few years, or are they staying the same?
Also, on lighthouses, I know there's a divestiture of lighthouses ongoing. The lighthouse associations in Nova Scotia and British Columbia, for example, are looking to ensure, if at all possible, that their organizations would have first crack at maintaining a part of our history.
You talked about the preservation and conservation of wild salmon. I've spoken to mining companies, and in most cases around the country, when mining companies are in an area, they will build a separate tailings pond. It's basically a hole. They'll line it, they'll put water in it, and then they'll put the tailings in there.
As you know from a question I asked you earlier regarding a duck pond and lake near the Exploits River, which both flow into the river, there's quite a concern by environmental groups and fishing groups that the allowance of these lakes be turned into tailings ponds through schedule 2. Plus, there are lakes right across the country that are next in line, and there's a concern that we're allowing the mining companies a cheaper way of out it, instead of developing their own tailings ponds, by using a natural water system for their tailings ponds.
Do you not think this may contradict what you said about conservation? If we are using the precautionary principle, shouldn't the mining companies do what they do in most cases and set up their own, instead of using a lake for their tailings systems?