Fisheries committee  I can't get into whether the money was booked or not. In fact, I usually don't know whether it's booked or not, quite frankly.

Fisheries committee  About $216 million.

Fisheries committee  I was using one example of something that didn't exist previously but does exist or did exist this year. There are a number of partnership initiatives, but I don't want to sound defensive, and I don't want to give the impression that I think we're doing enough of it. I don't disagree with your point that we probably need to do more; I think we are trying to do more.

Fisheries committee  We'll do that before the minister's appearance. We also have some questions that came up in the last meeting, and we'll get those to the clerk before the next meeting. We also have a response to Monsieur Carrier's questions about the overpass. We'll do that before the minister appears as well.

Fisheries committee  Ms. Kirby could perhaps respond.

Fisheries committee  Mr. Chair, it's good to have questions about science and funding and what we are up to, and we have recently come through a major science renewal initiative, so if it would interest the committee, when time permits, we could have Dr. Wendy Watson-Wright and some of us come and give a presentation and kick around the science question at length.

Fisheries committee  I would say, as Mr. Paradis said in response to the last question, partnership is a key element of the science renewal. I think in some areas we have more challenges than in others. Certainly the minister is seized of the point you made. In fact, we invested, I think, $1.2 million this year in a shared project between fishermen and scientists to get a better handle on what is the state of the inshore versus offshore northern cod scenario, following actually a number of hearings by this committee.

Fisheries committee  We could provide a more detailed update by phone this afternoon.

Fisheries committee  I will ask Mr. Sylvain Paradis, from the Ecosystem Science Directorate, to answer your question. Thank you for responding to the questions.

Fisheries committee  That's correct, and in terms of the $4.3 million or the $3.4 million, the $4.3 is the right number; the $3.4 million was the RPP number. The actual number for supplementaries is $4.3 million, and that is separate from science support or funding.

Fisheries committee  $4.5 million.

Fisheries committee  Both.

Fisheries committee  It was $4.3 million, I think--and somebody may correct me--and it came out of our science development money. We have an aquaculture development program within the science budget. It was $4.5 million or $4.3 million.

Fisheries committee  I'll kick that off, and others may want to leap in. I think it depends on the department. When I was in defence, as I find here, it was more challenging because it was very capital-intensive and very operational. We're running a major fleet. I think the impact of inflation on acquisitions and on O and M in a large capital-intensive organization and the impacts of fuel costs and so on are more severe in a department such as this one than what I found when I was in Veterans Affairs.

Fisheries committee  It's in a book, so we can get it for you, and we could actually have a bit of a look at it with inflation removed, maybe, and see what it looks like.