This was a really important change. The land bank is a very important innovation in terms of the way the public service is managing public lands. The average time of moving a surplus property through the surplus process was nine years, and it remains so—too long at this point. There are a lot of different theories about why that is the case.
In my previous role, I worked at the Privy Council Office and was responsible for public lands. What really seemed to stick out was that there wasn't a premium put on getting lands through the system. There weren't the public policy objectives; therefore, things sort of moved at their own speed. Now, however, it has been infused with urgency, as was mentioned at the table. There's a crisis now; therefore, in terms of getting lands out, there's a lot more senior attention being given to what is occurring and how long things are taking.
There are some things that simply do take time. There's a process of consultation, including first nations consultations, that is obviously extremely important. There are environmental assessments that need to occur. In some cases, there's infrastructure, so there are some things that are, I would say, out of our control. Those things don't happen if attention isn't being paid to it. That's the big difference that is occurring now and will need to continue.
You probably wouldn't know that the Canada Lands Company has moved into the housing portfolio, and that was done—