Thank you, Mr. Chair. There are a couple of questions to be answered here: one, whether we need a Surface Rights Board. I think there's a bit of disagreement about that. I think that there probably is some need to make sure that the claims have an ultimate board. Whether the legislation that the GNWT passed is accomplishing that, there is a bit of a debate there. As the Member for Frame Lake said, there are other bodies that could fulfill that function. The second question is whether a board that has never heard an appeal, and likely never will, needs $303,000 a year to operate. It kind of seems like one of those ridiculous government things of, whether we or the feds are paying for it, that we've spent likely a couple million dollars on a board that's never done anything. The third question is: if we do need the board and they need $300,000, who should pay for it? I think clearly, given that the intention of this board is to uphold and implement the land claims, that is a federal responsibility to pay for it.
I heard the Minister of Lands say that we don't like supplementary appropriations. If it comes back with a five-year federal funding agreement, then no one's going to complain about that. I'm inclined to vote to remove this until the Minister can come back with some confirmation that the feds are paying for it. If the feds aren't paying for it, then I think there's a really hard look that they probably don't need $300,000 a year to operate. I will be voting in favour of removing this money. Thank you, Mr. Chair.