Thank you, Mr. Kelloway, for the chats we've had along the way.
The best way I can do it, without drawing on a particular project, is to describe it generally. As part of our ongoing work, sometime we're looking to do a maintenance drawdown of a headpond for safety reasons or need to make some improvements to a dam for safety purposes. We used to need a code of practice to allow that work to proceed under a letter of advice. That's the way it used to be done, and that worked well. We worked closely with the regional officials at DFO, who understood the operational requirements of our business, and we looked to letters of advice or an expedited Fisheries Act authorization. However, now, every time we're looking to do that kind of relatively minor work, it requires a Fisheries Act authorization—every one of them. As a result, there's a backlog at DFO that's resulting in massive delays that can go into multiple years.
We want to do everything we can to protect fish populations, as you said, but we know we need to clean our grid and that a healthier climate is good for fish populations. We're trying to balance that out. We're just looking for a predictable approach, a risk-based approach, and a consistent application of the rules.