Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Though we may have a good system, or as good a system as anyone else in Canada, we still have the problem of a growing list of people who are waiting for service. When I look at what has happened over the past few years in terms of spending on legal aid, it is actually lower in the budget year that we are proposing than it was two years prior, 2000-2001, according to the book that we have.
In our budget books, it says that in 2000-2001, we spent over $3 million and we are proposing in 2002-2003 just under $3 million. Not a huge decrease, but that is what I see when I look at the Legal Aid Program. I may have jumped a bit ahead, Mr. Chairman, because I am looking at page 7-18, which outlines the details of the spending. I know we were talking about the program summary, but because those monies are included in the summary, I jumped ahead to look.
So our books are showing that we have, in effect, slightly decreased the amount of spending. Inflation has taken place. Our population has grown, so obviously -- at least, we think our population has grown. Stats Canada obviously does not. I am wondering why we would not at least keep up with inflation and put a little bit more money into legal aid. If we have it, why would we not try and put enough money in that so we can cut down on the waiting list? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.