Madam Chair, the 2009-10 report on plans and priorities indicates that the total planned spending on science has decreased by $32.4 million. The most significant reason for the decrease is due to the transfer of funds to the Canadian Coast Guard for fleet operational readiness, which ensures that the Coast Guard has the means and the ability to respond to the on-water and marine related needs for science.
We simply have taken what we have paid the Coast Guard in the past for its cost of assisting us with the science and that has now gone into the Coast Guard's operational fund. Members will see that in several areas of the budget the science money has simply gone to the Coast Guard.