I thank the member for his question. I'm not surprised that his first question was on small craft harbours at all. He was raising that issue when I was on the committee with him and ever since, because he represents a fishing area. I would say, Mr. Chair, it's an issue that any of us who represent fishing areas can raise quite logically. It was one I raised.
In fact, if you want to check Hansard, I was the one who raised and pushed the issue back when we got the $100 million put in originally. We have, as the member says, secured that on a permanent basis--not on a makeshift basis, but on a permanent basis. But on top of that we added another $11 million. It is still a drop in the bucket. Do we need more money? Absolutely. Are we looking for more money? Yes, we are. However, we're also looking for more money for highway construction, for education, for health care. So we're just one of several. There's never money enough to do everything we have to do.
The one thing about small craft harbours funding is it is allocated on a regional basis, and Quebec gets a certain percentage of that money. So it's not something that can be manipulated by a government or by a minister. I guess it could be, but it's not. And within the region, the small craft harbours division set their priorities based upon a number of factors: the amount of people using the wharf, the conditions of the wharf, etc.
Are we making any real headway? No, we're not. We're trying to breathe some air into the lungs of the situation we have. So, collectively, we'll just have to keep fighting to get more money, but we are battling, of course, as I say, other areas.
In relation to Saint-Georges itself, as a temporary measure, work has begun already to install floating wharves, because you expressed a concern about the people not being able to fish at the start of the season. Is that the answer? No, but it does get them on the water. And then we have to look at the budget in your region to see how soon work can be started on those wharves.