Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, I am aware of the Green Plan funds that are available for environmental clean up, these are limited resources, these are not going to be ongoing funds that the federal government makes available. On this pollution control again, we just have a little wee portion of federal responsibility. Just like the fisheries. What I was saying in the communities, most of the families who do go out of the community to their original hunting grounds, to do wildlife harvesting, most of them, they are very good in bringing their own garbage back to the community. There are also others that do not, and this usually becomes the responsibility of the Hunters' and Trappers' Association. I know that the H.T.A.s do receive small funding for operational purposes, but that is never enough, even to pay to keep their records in order, to hire somebody. If we were to translate the amount of work that the H.T.A.s do, on behalf of Renewable Resources, it would translate into much more than what they are presently given annually. With the amount that we are provided with on pollution control, most of it, more than half of it, is for salary and wages, and nothing really for the actual work.
What I was wondering, would it be possible for your department to negotiate with Environment Canada, and use our hunters and trappers as a tool for your negotiations, and translate the amount of time and efforts that are spent on doing cleaning up, environmental cleaning up? Maybe, perhaps, your department would be able to obtain more funding in this area.