Minister, the previous speaker talked about the Canadian Petroleum Resources Act and the moratorium. I think people have to know that there was a real interest in having a review of the conditions in the Beaufort Sea before going forward.
When I visit the small communities of Paulatuk, Ulukhaktok, Sachs Harbour and Tuktoyaktuk, I talk to a lot of people who are very traditional in lifestyle. They still depend a lot on the ocean, on fishing, hunting and all those things to make a living and supplement their incomes.
A lot of people want to see employment from the jobs that oil and gas bring. At the same time, they want to do it in a strategic way. Having the science-based review that's taking place right now with the Government of Northwest Territories, the federal government and the Inuvialuit is the right move. It will continue without interruption. The oil companies are all saying—and we've heard from them—that the oil prices are not right. They're not good right now, but they don't want to give up their licences until things change and until exploration can be done down the road.
That allowance has been made, and I think that's really a good move to ensure that everybody is on the right page. We need to have this piece of legislation. It is giving comfort to the indigenous governments that we are going to move away from the super-board concept and bring other regulatory items onto the table that will make the whole process more efficient. That is also going to be well received.
Some of these are very simple. The ability to maintain a quorum is a big important piece of it, and you'd think it would be automatic. Why do we need to put it into the system? We do because it was not in there the last time. I worked with boards where they couldn't operate, couldn't do a review, because they didn't have the numbers because the government of the day didn't make the appointments. We had boards waiting for months and that wasn't good. I think the three key pieces are very important.
Is intervenor funding going to be part of the support network? For this whole process to work well we need that in place. Can you speak to that?