Thank you for that question and for framing it the way you did. You are absolutely correct. The notion of the land use plans had to be primarily the first job done by the government. Once that was complete, then something had to be done with the regional boards. That was my view. Whether they were eliminated completely or left with an administrative function in each area, those were the two options.
I was not consulted with respect to Bill C-15, if there was some dysfunction related to my recommendation as the bill proceeded. However, there's no question that in everything I said and everything I recommended, I indicated I thought it would be a very difficult row to hoe and that if we didn't start the restructuring, including making sure the land use plans were completed early, we'd be doing that 10 years later.
Here we are, 10 years from when I made that report, and we're still not there. These are long-term projects, but it was clear in my mind what the role would be for the super-board, if you want to call it that, as a very professional regulatory body that deals with the kinds of issues I talked about. If the government wanted to leave the administrative function in the local treaty areas, that was an option that was open to it.