In its current state, I don't believe it would adequately address other issues associated with first nations.
We are negotiating land claims within the southwest. We've already received authority to buy back land. That amounts to over 8,000 acres. Take the confined area of southwestern Ontario. That's a substantial piece of property. When we try to do additions to reserves, it takes over 20 years.
We've currently been in negotiations and discussions with ISC for the past 20 years to increase and improve the quality of water. These additions, now, will remain agricultural to a large extent. In fact, we're in the industrial heartland. Some of the properties we've obtained are within 10 kilometres of the 401 and 402 interchange, where a tremendous amount of industrial traffic goes back and forth. We have a Volkswagen plant in St. Thomas, 20 kilometres away from us.
There is going to be a whole series of subsidiary-type industries within that region. If we can't put forward the three main and important points of reliability, sustainability and affordability, we will never achieve economic reconciliation the way the legislation is currently drafted. It needs to have a secure and flexible way of creating first nations financing that controls not only the system but also the financial mechanism within which we must operate and compete with these other municipal jurisdictions.