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  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  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  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 actually have, I believe, made some announcements this year, but more to your question, we are still working with the minister's office to secure approval of the proposed budget. So we haven't quite achieved that yet. We expect that will happen, quite frankly, within the next

Fisheries committee  Yes.

Fisheries committee  Based on life-cycle management principles, about which we could get into more detail, our estimation is that we would need this $32 million—

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

Fisheries committee  I can ask Mr. Bergeron to speak in more detail, but my quick response would be yes. The study was done over a period of time with considerable consultation, and the rationale provided for the seven harbours was fairly sound. So it's a matter of the funding at this point. If we h

Fisheries committee  As I mentioned at our last meeting, we intend to evaluate our budget allocation process. That will take a few months, perhaps more. We've been using this method for six or seven years. So I think it's time to evaluate it. We were waiting for the amount stated in the 2007 budget.

Fisheries committee  Do I agree with the formula? As I said, it's time to evaluate it. It's true that, when I visit the regions, people everywhere tell me that it's time to evaluate the process. That means that not all the regions agree on the formula. That means something. If we change the method or

Fisheries committee  It's very hard to answer that today, since we haven't had the time to do the evaluation. I can say that, if the facts suggest that it's time to change our methodology, I imagine we'll change it in order to have a fairer system.

Fisheries committee  Yes, absolutely.

Fisheries committee  There are a lot of factors, and I can't clarify that exactly, but I can mention, for example, that I get the impression the formula we're using today isn't consistent with the conditions of the harbours in each region. That's a factor that we obviously have to consider, as well a