Fisheries committee  It's a pretty big number, as you indicated. I guess if we look at it in the following way, the maintenance, which is the critical part that we're short, is, as I said, $35 million a year. That, over a period of time--and it would be probably a fairly lengthy period of time--would

Fisheries committee  I'm guessing here, but I would say 10 to 15 years.

Fisheries committee  That's right. Another way to look at it, and I'm not sure we could do this even if we had the money, but if you were to ask me--and maybe you were--how much money would you need to get the existing core fishing harbours up to what we would consider to be a safe, reliable conditi

Fisheries committee  Given the state of the construction industry and some of the issues we would probably have around implementation, it's debatable whether we could do it, even if we had the money over five years, but that's speculative.

Fisheries committee  I think it's probably closer to $475 million, but it's a big figure, yes.

Fisheries committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. First of all, I've been in front of the committee several times, but for the new members, my name is Cal Hegge. I'm the assistant deputy minister of HR and corporate services. One of my responsibilities, obviously, includes small craft harbours. I'm joined

Fisheries committee  I am not sure if I understand your question. This bill applies to Canada. I think that there are no studies—

Fisheries committee  —that would allow us to compare. It would be a good idea, but I do not think that there are any.

Fisheries committee  I think the difference is five years versus ten years. The figures I gave you in my opening remarks, which I could repeat, are predicated on 450 light stations being designated. The estimate was $461 million out of a total estimated cost of $481 million for recapitalization. Then

Fisheries committee  If we divest of it, basically we are absolving any responsibility from our department. It's now in the hands of the party to which we divest it. Sometimes there are some provisions that go along with that divestiture. They have to maintain the light, for example, in good shape fo

Fisheries committee  We have some figures that we could give the committee if you are interested. These figures come from a study on lighthouses in other countries. There is great variety among the ways in which different countries treat their lighthouses. In Canada, the figure for designated eligib

Fisheries committee  Yes. In the United States, the rate is 87%.

Fisheries committee  The United States have 460 lighthouses. Eighty seven per cent of them are designated as heritage sites.

Fisheries committee  I do not know.

Fisheries committee  If I have understood your question, you are referring to the divestiture process for lighthouses, which I have already explained. We offer lighthouses that are no longer of use to us to federal departments, and to provincial and municipal governments. So yes, the provinces may we