Madam Speaker, I appreciate the fact that the member does recognize that we have made significant progress on this issue.
However, I would like to reinforce the fact that a lot of people are delivering these services and if we do not enter into a tripartite agreement we could end up not knowing where to best allocate the moneys that we are talking about.
The funding in the five jurisdictions that we are already talking about comes to $61 million a year when fully implemented. That could probably be almost doubled when we enter into further agreements. This is a significant commitment.
We have demonstrated a new and practical approach to working with aboriginal governments, aboriginal organizations, provinces and territories to address these clear priorities throughout Canada. This is paying off and we are seeing results.