Yes. We can't underestimate the budget cuts and the staffing cuts made to DFO over the past decade. That significantly altered the ability and the institutional memory of the department.
I think co-governance and co-management are a way forward on that, because then it's not tied to political cycles, and you download more of the decision-making power to a regional and community-based approach. I think that this can work. It's not easy, and it does require capacity at the local level, but it can provide a much more long-term view and stability that is less reactive to discretion, because there is constancy in the process and in the co-management. Yes, people will change over time. Staff changes over time—that always happens everywhere—but I think there are ways of protecting the process, the institutional history, and the trust at the table. Trust is absolutely the most important thing in all of these things. By having that co-management, you are not tied to the political cycle.
Unfortunately, what happens is that if things get changed in budgets, you no longer have the infusion of the federal government's capacity. That is important in terms of science as well. I think we saw that on the west coast, where the province and the first nations got involved in a marine planning process, but the federal government was not involved. Now, they are getting reinvolved. If they had been involved from the beginning, that planning process would have probably happened more quickly.