Thank you for your generosity, Rob. I appreciate that.
Congratulations, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Minister Strahl, for being here today.
I have two rather pointed questions around water and waste water infrastructure.
I'll probably take half a minute, for the benefit of the minister and perhaps the committee, to tell a little bit about my riding. It's one of the larger ridings in the country. We have more than 40 first nations reserves, and 25 of those are isolated; that is, they are accessible only by air. And 40% of the population of my riding are first nations. I have had the distinct privilege of living in most of those 25 isolated communities as a registered nurse over the course of about six years, and two in other parts of the country, mostly through the nineties, where I had a not-so-great experience with the availability of water and water treatment.
I'm pleased that this government took the appropriate steps to consult with the AFN to try to assess the extent of what was required.
My questions now simply are these. Are the additional investments in water and waste water infrastructure on reserve new money or is this part of last year's budget, the 2008 commitment of $330 million?
How will you be determining how to spend the additional money?