Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being here today and sharing this important information with us.
Also, through you, thanks to all the officials in the Canadian government who work with you. I want to thank you for all the hard work and the late hours you've all put in to make sure these projects proceed. They're very important for our country, and I think we can see the results in our economy today because of the very diligent work that you and your staff have done in getting these projects under way.
I come from the city of Mississauga, and I can tell you that I had many discussions with Mayor Hazel McCallion about the deadlines required under the projects and the eligibility of the projects that the City of Mississauga was putting forward. She and her city manager, Janice Baker, and the city council and all their staff took these criteria very seriously.
She said to me on a number of occasions in those conversations that she would not gamble with the money of the citizens of Mississauga. She runs the largest debt-free city in Canada and probably the world. She's very proud of that, and we're very proud of it, and she doesn't want to see the city going into any debt if projects aren't completed on time.
So she took it very seriously: they moved extremely quickly once these projects were approved. In fact, within weeks of the approvals in June of 2009, I attended some projects that were under way. One of the projects was rebuilding seriously deteriorated sound walls around neighbourhoods. In early July of 2009, the shovels were in the ground.
The contractor for that project, which I think was just under $2 million for all of the sound walls across the city, mentioned to me that he had hired 33 employees to do that installation and that a number of other employees had been hired at the company that manufactures the materials for the sound walls that were being installed. I was able to see these things under way.
You mentioned, Ms. Baltacioglu, that there were over 6,200 projects approved across Canada. That's a staggering number. I believe you also said that 99% of those projects were under way and that one per cent or thereabouts might be at risk.
Could you tell us whether you have any status on the Mississauga projects? Are any of them at risk?