Good Lord, I'm looking for another Mr. Simms in the House.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
First, I would like to say thank you for introducing this in the House and bringing it forward. It was an initiative from the Senate, and a long one at that. I'm sure this will be a pretty productive period, nonetheless.
As you know, we support this bill and look forward to amendments to make sure this works out. So congratulations to you, sir.
Ms. Kell, what I have noticed in my three years in this job is that in instances where we have an incredible amount of heritage wrapped up in a lighthouse that in many cases was the centrepiece of the community 100 years ago—it wasn't just a safety thing, but there was a community aspect with the lighthouse and related buildings—any investment to help these places survive has come either from DFO or our local economic development agency, ACOA.
I find that—I would say Heritage Canada, but I understand it's really Environment Canada, as you've now found a new home—Parks Canada has been glaringly absent from the support aspect of this.
I appreciate where Mr. Hegge is coming from. He talked about a $105 million recapitalization, and he notes there isn't enough money available, if I can paraphrase you correctly, to sustain most of these historic places.
Do you feel you've been absent in your part?