Mr. Speaker, I am thankful for the opportunity to respond to my good friend, the member for Willowdale, who I have the greatest respect for.
I am not sure I could answer her question in half an hour, let alone the short few minutes I have. I will, however, respond to her concern about evaluating capital assets that are owned by the federal government. It is only prudent use of taxpayers' money to assess what the federal government owns. We are continuing with a rigorous expenditure review, so it only makes sense that we continue with a review of capital assets owned by this government.
To answer that question, yes, the review continues, because, as I say, it is only prudent that we take a look at what the government owns, simply because it has been more than a decade since we have analyzed that. The asset review is continuing and will continue following a clear process.
We need to look at assets and at whether they still perform a useful function for Canadians, whether the original purpose for each is still relevant, and whether taxpayers' dollars are being spent wisely in keeping these assets within the government. We remain committed to completing that analysis and also to taking into account the market conditions, as we have said we would do all along, to ensure that the best value could be realized for taxpayers and to ensure that the transactions generate new economic activity. However, we have said all along that assets will not be sold if these tests are not met.
In fact, in light of the recent weakness in the economy and in line with our stated commitment to ensure that fair value can be realized by taxpayers and that the transaction will generate additional economic activity, gains resulting from the sale of corporate assets have not been included in the most recent fiscal projection by the government, as publicly announced in September in our update of economic and fiscal projections.
The clear answer to that is that the review continues but the sale of assets is not on the horizon until we can realize good value for taxpayers' dollars. We will continue along with what we think is a very prudent endeavour, ensuring that all spending is efficient and effective. As I say, not only are we reviewing expenditures within the government to make sure they are the best use of taxpayers' dollars but we will continue to review what the assets held by the government are.
I would like to quote the hon. member, if I could, and remind her that she must see the wisdom in this because in the government operations committee on March 24 of this year, she said, “I...support efforts by the government to achieve efficiencies and to focus on what it does best”. That is very much in line with the hon. member's outlook on what is right for government to do. She and I have had many serious conversations about this.
We can also look to other countries that have dealt with the same situation. Many countries have done the same thing we are doing, and have analyzed and assessed what they actually own.