Thank you, Mr. Hardie.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I have to say that this is a frustrating conversation. As I said earlier, this is something that we inherited post-2015 from many governments of the past, going back to 2000. Mr. Lambe's comment with respect to the retroactivity of this around the $70-million mark is also quite alarming.
That said, I guess my intent today, as frustrating as it is and has been for the last few years, is to turn that page and to come to some resolve, and I'm hearing that has happened. I'm hearing that from the department. I'm hearing that from the GLFC and others that are involved, including, as Mr. Masse said, in our discussions with members of Congress when we go to Washington, which can also be sometimes embarrassing, quite frankly, when they bring this up with respect to the current condition of the relationship.
With that, the MOA has been mentioned a few times, so let's turn the page and let's come to that solution, which I'm assuming this study is intended to do. It's to come to that resolve. Moving towards that solution, we're talking about a memorandum of agreement.
We're looking at the administration of the program. I understand that the GLFC administers the program, and the contractor is the DFO with respect to components of that program and, of course, as I said earlier, the invoicing to the GLFC. The GLFC then takes the appropriation from the treasury and pays the bill. With that, and that expectation—because that expectation has been articulated through the budget, $19 million times five, over the next five years—that relationship can continue in that realm. I'm assuming that would be part of the MOA.
The governance, I understand, is an issue as well: the transfer from DFO to GAC or other options that may present themselves, such as the board makeup with a member from GAC versus DFO, and a civilian member, which would actually make up any other shortfall in governance.
I guess I'm going to ask both the DFO and the GLFC what ideas they're going to have moving forward with establishing that MOA. I'll start with the GLFC.