Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I don't think the blockage is within the department. I think that people work in this department because they want to see change. Actually, there are a number of people committed to that. I think you're right that we are sort of no longer going to exist when we transform services, but I think the reason for the growth is that you can't actually transfer something that is not transferable in the context of sustainability. If we need to scale up a little bit to support the Atlantic First Nations Water Authority for a few years, transfer something that is transferable and then step away from it, I think that's perhaps why you're seeing a bit of growth in the department.
In terms of how we could do this better, of course, we have to modernize how we do infrastructure. Part of it perhaps has to be less about asset-by-asset management and more about communities having their infrastructure priorities and having funding that goes through, and then making decisions about what's best for their communities with perhaps fewer program-by-program conversations with us. Those can be a burden between us and other departments that do any type of infrastructure on reserve.
To the question about how we could do this better, I think there are modernization efforts regarding infrastructure that we're learning about and that we can do better. I think the capital investments are key, and I think the PBO noted that they are there.
I think it's about not just the hard infrastructure but also the investments into environmental public health officers and others, because they test water. I think it's about all of that, under a new legislative framework that could have regulations and standards around water protection and rights to clean water.