Yes, she does.
My name is Osborne Burke. I am the chair of the national HAAC and I am from Nova Scotia. Sitting with me is Bob Baziuk, who is from British Columbia and is our secretary; and Luc LeGresley, who is from Quebec region, and he's the vice-chair of the national HAAC.
I'm going to start off the presentation today.
In our presentation, we are going to provide a brief overview, from a volunteer perspective, of the harbour authority program, the challenges we face as volunteers, and how we try to work together with the small craft harbours program of Fisheries and Oceans to maintain and operate these harbours. One point we certainly want to stress from the beginning is the collaborative relationship we have with Fisheries and Oceans' small craft harbours branch, and that the issues we're presenting today are not so much with the program itself but with the level of funding.
Before I continue any further, I'd like to take a moment as well to thank the committee for their efforts to date, because you have made many over the years to increase awareness of the issues and challenges facing the small craft harbours program and highlighting to government the need to increase the program's budget.
One particular comment I would make at this time, before I pass it on to my colleague Bob to carry on part of the presentation, is that I'm pleased to hear that the $20 million is going to continue, from what has just been mentioned here today. I'd also like to stress that this $20 million really doesn't change anything; it has been there for five years. It's much appreciated that it's now part of the A-base or permanent funding; however, it still leaves us a shortfall on an annual basis of $35 million, which is barely enough to maintain the facilities we have.
On that note, now I'll pass it over to my colleague Bob. Thank you.