Thank you, Chair.
Dickens wrote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”, and depending on what attitude you take, one could say it was the best or the worst. I have people in my office today from the sports fishing world who say that the fisheries department has the highest level of consultation of any department of Canadian government. I certainly see it in my riding. All of you probably know that we have some very activist people who care passionately about the fisheries.
I want to ask you to comment on two stories. One is Cohen and one is the coast guard.
With regard to Cohen, there are some who have said it's the worst of times, because the Government of Canada is not responding one by one to the 75 recommendations. Then there are others who say this government is integrating into its operations the recommendations of Cohen. Instead of trying to spread itself too thinly, they're taking specifics and actually working on them.
Similarly on the coast guard or on our operations generally, there are those who say the government is reorganizing things, and they have expressed some anxiety about that. But I've heard it said by a fisheries officer that this is the first time in a generation that the coast guard is being bolstered with long-term capital funding, and that the helicopters you're talking about and the 10 coast guard vessels that are being built in the riding I represent are all part of a bolstering of the coast guard that has really been unprecedented in decades.
Would you like to comment on those two tales, Cohen and what we're doing in our fisheries in terms of long-term funding?