Mr. Speaker, I listened very carefully to the speech given by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans.
While one could say that it was interesting in certain respects, in several other respects it was very disappointing. We are not talking about a government that was just recently elected. The Conservatives have been in power for more than just a couple of weeks. They have been in power for over two years now. We are talking about a situation where, in budget 2006, in the supplementary estimates in fall 2006, in budget 2007 and in the supplementary estimates of 2007, they could have done something, but they did not. They did not do so, since all they announced was that they were going to stick with the $20 million that has been scraped together over five years. This budget of $20 million a year will be included in the regular budget. That is probably the answer I will get.
That it is ridiculous, since, at present, we are not moving forward; we are stagnating. Frankly, we are going backwards. In fact, by the department's own admission, the situation is getting worse every year. If we continue to invest the same amount every year, the situation will only further deteriorate. Thus, there is no progress in announcing that they will stick with the $20 million every year. That amount needs to be much higher.
The other issue I would like my hon. colleague to address is the number that he is throwing at us, namely, $1 billion. That is what I heard. I would like him to break it down, simplify it or at least explain it to us.