Good afternoon. I'm Daniel Lebel. I'm director general for the Geological Survey of Canada and one of the leads for the geoscience programs we have.
The principles behind the targeted geoscience initiatives are that these are time-limited and cyclical. We have programs that, for the last few cycles, generally last about five years. In this case, because the government always has the chance to decide whether or not to renew, these programs are arranged so that the funding is ramping up and ramping down. In every cycle, we have a full suite of projects that start and finish. It's not an ongoing program where these activities never end. We actually start with a very solid program.
In anticipation of the start of this program, we've been in the planning for about a year and interacting with industry. This first year will really be about planning solid activities. There are some staff who are supported by these activities and are coming on board, but not very many, because the program is highly dependent on the expertise that resides in-house in the Geological Survey of Canada, and then we leverage expertise that resides in universities.
Really, the first year is about starting this and having the best suite of activities. Moving forward, the funding will really ramp up—