Thank you, Chair.
Let me welcome Minister Valcourt back to our abode here and his officials with him. We look forward to sharing part of this afternoon.
I have a couple of questions, Minister. First of all, our government stands up for Canadian taxpayers. This means we respect the public purse that has been entrusted to us. To that end, when 101,000 applicants were received for membership in the Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation, both our government and the FNI recognized that granting all applicants membership was imprudent from both cultural recognition and fiscal standpoints.
Can you please explain how Bill C-25 ensures that those applicants entitled to membership will receive the rights and benefits due to them, while respecting taxpayers' trust in our government? I know you talked about some of this earlier today. Maybe you could just flesh that out a little bit for us.