Good afternoon, and thank you for being here.
I certainly wish the minister could have stayed, of course, but we will have another opportunity, and I will congratulate him on going through a demythification process about his concepts and his stereotypes around aboriginal communities. I would hope he will continue on that particular track. I would have liked to inform him that there are indeed aboriginal communities that have nice halls and nice schools and good management systems, so I hope he continues on that particular personal journey of his.
I would also say, with all due respect--this has nothing to do with you officials--I find it hard to swallow the pedestal on which my colleagues on the opposite side have put themselves when it comes to advocating on behalf of aboriginal rights and aboriginal women in general, when their record in opposition shows they voted against almost every piece of major legislation that would have improved the lives of aboriginal people for 13 years. That has been their record, so I find that a bit incredulous.
I will continue to ask a specific question. If the demand is so great, and--as the minister sort of said--it is so infinite in terms of the need, in terms of capital expenditures in whatever form they come, why is it that we can't spend that $20 million, and that it must be reallocated somewhere else?