Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I also thank Mr. Hamilton and Ms. Ramcharan.
I would like to go back to the report on plans and priorities of the National Energy Board. I put the question to the minister, but I would like to hear your comments on this. I do not think I got an answer from the minister to the direct question I put to him.
In the various components of the National Energy Board plans and priorities, i.e. energy regulation, information on energy, internal services and others, we see a constant drop between the current expenditures budget and the planned expenditures between now and 2017-2018. That decline varies between 15% and 20%, in general, whether we look at financial resources or human resources.
As of 2012, the National Energy Board has been given increasing responsibilities. That year, there was a major reform in how projects are evaluated. Bill C-46 gives the National Energy Board additional responsibilities, whereas the resources allocated to it seem to be on the decline.
How can we believe that the board will be able to meet its obligations? The minister spoke about an additional $80 million, but I received no reply to the question regarding whether part of that sum is going to offset the cuts in the report on plans and priorities.