Fisheries committee  —ongoing, to arrest the deterioration and replace the harbours, etc.

Fisheries committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's a pleasure to be here again this morning to talk about the small craft harbours program. I know that this is of considerable interest to this committee and has been for several years. I am joined today by Robert Bergeron, the DG of small craft harbou

Fisheries committee  It was a Freudian slip. We'll pledge our support to you in any way we can, in order to provide any additional information you might want throughout the conduct of your study. If I could go quickly to slide 2, there you see the budget represented, and we've tried to take out some

Fisheries committee  We have a process or policy in place that allows us to divest of the lighthouses. There's a certain order of priority that we consider in terms of interest, including provincial government, municipal government, first nations and municipalities, for example, which I think is your

Fisheries committee  I just want to say a few words about the long-term capital plan. As you've seen in the documents you've alluded to, we have a fairly significant capital budget, which we manage through several centres of expertise--it's basically for major modifications or additions or new facili

Fisheries committee  The only thing I would add is I think it's a reasonable request, and I'd like to look into it and come back with an answer.

Fisheries committee  There is no specific divestiture program, but as you know, we spend approximately $1.5 million per year to that end. We would need $80 million to dispose of all the harbours we would like to divest ourselves of.

Fisheries committee  The amount I mentioned is about right. We spend $1.5 million annually, but we obviously need more than that.

Fisheries committee  The second point refers to the $20 million for small craft harbours that were to have sunsetted at the end of last fiscal year. This is now going to continue, but at the time of the documents, of course, it was assumed that it was going to sunset. So that $20 million is actually

Fisheries committee  As the deputy minister stated, the review itself doesn't take long but under the new User Fee Act we are obliged to consult extensively, to hold discussions with clients, to undertake comparisons, even with other countries. That takes time. For example, if we want to adjust the f

Fisheries committee  Thank you, Mr. Asselin. We conducted a study on the state of our ports. I believe the committee is aware of this. According to our estimate, an additional $35 million per year will be required over the next five years.

Fisheries committee  Thank you for your question. We intend to re-evaluate the formula that we are currently using to allocate funds. In fact, we are waiting to see if we will be receiving more funds. As you know, we did receive $20 million, but we are still working with our colleagues from the centr

Fisheries committee  Yes. We assess all of the fund allocation criteria in order to see whether the percentages are still in effect or if there are any reasons to change the formula. That obviously could change the current distribution of funds to the regions.

Fisheries committee  We will work with and consult the regions, as well as the port authorities. I also suggest consultation with the committee. We are open to all ideas as far as reviewing the current formula is concerned.

Fisheries committee  Not at the moment, but I am open to ideas or to a consultation with the committee.