Thank you for that question, Mr. André.
The new provision in the Export and Import Permits Act, proposed section 6.3, is actually based on existing legislation that provides for establishing quantities for import access pursuant to WTO commitments. So the cascade or the arrangement is very similar.
Proposed subsection 6.3(3), as you pointed out, provides authority for the minister to make an allocation method order. That would establish the eligibility criteria for export allocations, or quota as people have been referring to it. The section is not explicit about the consultations that would be done with the provinces. However, that consultation is ongoing, as my colleague Mr. Seebach has mentioned. I'll ask him in a minute to talk to you about those consultations.
The authority to make these allocations comes from the minister. There is no delegation to the provinces for this function. Delegating it to the provinces would have involved a structure much different from what we have here, perhaps with counterpart legislation in the provinces to establish whatever entity at the provincial end would do this. There would have been delegation from the federal government to the provinces with machinery perhaps similar to what the marketing agencies use. It was felt that that kind of arrangement was not appropriate. The provinces were amenable to the arrangement of consulting and providing recommendations on the allocation method that will be used in a region.
It is the government's position that the advice of the province in question will be taken into consideration. In fact, I would not be surprised if the elements that the provinces want were fairly well replicated in the allocation method order. However, the discretion to make that order is the minister's. It's for the minister to decide what the eligibility criteria will be, based on the consultations with the provinces.