Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank all of the witnesses for the important work they're doing to protect, conserve and save our wild salmon.
I'll start with my former colleague and good friend Fin Donnelly. Thank you for the work you're doing, as a former MP, at the Rivershed Society of British Columbia.
Mr. Donnelly, you've heard loud and clear about the need for restoration. You talked about CPR—conserve, protect and restore. We just heard, in the last round, that for the B.C. salmon restoration fund, there was $340 million in applications and only $70 million was approved. Clearly it's oversubscribed. The need is great. We heard from first nations at this committee that they were rejected. They said that if they aren't funded, as well as groups along the Fraser and throughout coastal British Columbia, soon our wild salmon are going to be in a dire situation and extinction will be imminent.
Can you talk about how important it is for the government to step up its game federally? What kind of investment is needed now, especially given the opportunity with COVID and COVID recovery plans, since a lot of this work is physically distanced and could be done now?