Thank you very much.
In the two weeks that the committee travelled, I think we heard a lot about ATR, additions to reserve. Even though in our offices we've heard about it, it seems that even for the bands that have self-government or are in first nations land management, the delays in ATR are really hampering them.
I guess I would love to know the insider's view of why on earth this takes so long. I guess there's a view that the Department of Justice seems to get its hands in and that there's even an extra step that's been imposed by this government in the back-and-forth. I did an order paper question, and it doesn't seem that there's a real tracking system.
It also seems that certain chiefs don't even know where they are in the process—a certain piece of paper is missing or something's missing—so that it seems there should be a website the chiefs can use to see how it's going.
I think we were also concerned that a lot seemed to ride on the personality of the people at the regional office, and that if they had a really good relationship with them, then things seemed to happen a little bit better.
When Warren Johnson was here, he said he felt the minister should be able to make these decisions himself instead of it going as an order in council. I suppose I would say, having been at the cabinet table, that all politics is local, and I wondered if you've ever known of any situation where, when it got to cabinet, there was a sober second thought about something. Do you have a view as to whether it needs to go to cabinet or whether or not the minister should make these decisions himself?