Thank you to the member, and our government certainly understands the importance of protecting Canadian waters and coordinating efforts to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species.
I want to reassure the member that this was a key topic of my meeting in Winnipeg last fall with the Canadian fisheries ministers from across the country. We really did commit to collectively upping our game on that, as well as working with U.S. counterparts to support us.
The 2022 fall economic statement identified $36.6 million over five years, starting in the year that's just passed, to expand the aquatic invasive species program that DFO runs. That will enable us to undertake new activities and work with the provinces, which do a lot of this work at the borders to ensure that the protocols are in place and effective. We do need to prevent the spread of these species for the well-being and health of our ecosystems in the future.