Good afternoon, Mr. Minister.
At the gathering between the Crown and first nations which was held earlier this year, your government stated that it was a priority to close the funding gap in the area of education for first nations. I obviously had not been invited to that meeting, since security escorted me to the exit. In any case, the main estimates do not provide for any additional funding, and the money announced in the 2012 budget is not enough to reach parity in the area of education between aboriginal children and other Canadian kids.
Could you, once and for all, give us a deadline by which this funding gap will be closed, so that parity can finally be reached between first nations and Canadians?