Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to get back to funding for the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary. We've been told that a budget of $314 million will be allocated to the Canadian Coast Guard, but is a portion of this budget for the Auxiliary Coast Guard?
I'll tell you why I'm asking. I'm just back from a conference on water, where I argued that the St. Lawrence River, because if is so wide and swiftly-flowing, is complex to navigate. There are accordingly a lot of incidents that regularly require a safety intervention. Very often, in the Lower St. Lawrence area of Quebec, it's the Auxiliary Coast Guard that intervenes.
I met these people, and they're fantastic. They do their work on a volunteer basis, put everything into it, and are passionate about what they do. And yet, they end up having to pay $5,000 or $6,000 out of their own pockets to carry out these safety interventions on the river. Not only that, but with the cost of everything increasing, I would imagine that it's going to be even more expensive for them in the coming years.
Did the last budget provide any funding for the Coast Guard Auxiliary? I can confirm that the people there are waiting to hear.