You're right to mention that the coast guard is cherished by this government. One of the first things I did when I became commissioner of the coast guard was I read the history of the coast guard that was published in a book for the 40th anniversary of the coast guard, which was created in 1962.
Never in the life of the coast guard have we seen such a massive investment at one time. In the last few years, the government has invested over $6 billion, and just in budget 2012, $5.2 billion. I described the helicopters. You mentioned the 10 big ships that will be replaced. We also received a significant amount of money for vessel life extensions. We have good ships that are well maintained, but we are now investing massively in the extension of the life of about 16 of those large vessels. Also, you didn't mention the up to 21 small vessels we're going to acquire. Quite soon we will issue the first draft of a request for proposal for the acquisition of up to 10 new lifeboats.
Yes, it's extremely encouraging to see all those investments in the coast guard, but it doesn't stop there. The government announced investment in the coast guard last winter. In March, Minister Lebel announced that the coast guard would implement an incident command system. The government has approved the funding for that initiative. That was great news for the coast guard.
The coast guard was facing significant problems this year with a shortage of money for fuel. The government recently awarded us up to $16 million in fuel money. That shows significant, and frankly fantastic, support of the coast guard.
Some of the things I mentioned you will see in supplementary estimates (C), because they were approved recently by Treasury Board, so they will come here for approval.