Thank you very much. We welcome you to the committee.
It won't be the first time you'll be here. We'll go into the legislative agenda of this government at committee when the bills are before the committee, but these are the estimates and it's about spending.
What we need to understand, first of all, is that all parties are concerned with an effective criminal justice system, and we're all concerned with accessibility to that justice system. We know that many people, more and more people, don't have access to legal aid.
I'd like to point you to the transfer payments. I see there are items not required. The contributions in support of legal aid pilot projects seem to be ending, from $955,000. But what is most interesting to me is that we have criminal legal aid, and I know there is a concern about civil legal aid, Minister.
The contributions to provinces to assist in the operation of legal aid systems: first of all, our main estimates for 2005-06 were about $119,827,000. They seem to have gone down to $79,827,000. What you've put on the table is a legislative agenda that's going to potentially put more people into prisons, and what you've just talked about is your responsibility, as minister, to make sure the system is fair and just and accessible.
I'd like to understand where you are with your discussions with your provincial counterparts, both on the need for more legal aid, or potentially even more than we have currently--why this figure has gone down. Perhaps Mr. Sims can help you with the detail, because it is the detail that I'd like to....