Thank you, Mr. Simms.
Given the proximity of both our ridings, we both share in the same frustrations and problems, despite any political colour.
I want to say, first of all, that I'll be splitting my time with Mr. Byrne for the first five minutes.
Mr. Benson, I appreciate your comments about the passion involved and how harbours are a sign of life off in the distance. It's a fantastic illustration of what a lot of people here forget when we deal in dollars and cents, numbers and size, infrastructure, and you name it. So I truly appreciate that small analogy.
On aging infrastructure, we received some sobering news last week about the dollar amounts that are needed to get up to par--and that is just to get up to par.
I want to ask specifically now about the stress that the harbour authorities have, the two angles. First is volunteer fatigue. Can you give us a good illustration of volunteer fatigue, for the people who volunteer in a harbour authority, the pressures that they're under? And can you tell us what is needed from the Government of Canada--not just the dollars but also the type of program you'd like to see in place that will help alleviate volunteer fatigue?
Second, if you look at the progression of our fishery, if you go back 30 years, 20 years, up until now, you'll see that the small boats have now become much larger boats and have become an extra fatigue on the infrastructure itself. When it comes to the announcements and the money we're putting in to upgrade the infrastructure, how has it been so ineffective over the past little while that we're struggling to get only a fraction of what we had before? In other words, I guess what we're looking for here is your perspective on where the money should be going and when it should be coming in, with regard to tenders and that sort of thing.
Can I ask you to address the volunteer fatigue issue first, before you get into possible solutions for infrastructure?