Government Operations committee  I'm aware they were looking at setting up a website. I wasn't aware the website is being set up today. There are always projects that have been planned for and are ready for announcement. But of course with an additional $23 billion in stimulus there are many other areas of spe

Government Operations committee  Again, my understanding is that the Auditor General has said she's been made aware of vote 35. At this time, I don't think she has declared her views about it. In fact, I think she appeared before the public accounts committee, where she said at the time that she wasn't aware o

Government Operations committee  I think when it comes to the overall state of affairs for infrastructure, each department comes up with its own estimate. We don't have a comprehensive assessment of that; each department does. As part of this action plan you'll see a lot of proposals coming forward based on wh

Government Operations committee  I can. I guess we start with the budget initiatives that are not funded through the Budget Implementation Act. As I noted earlier, we're looking at these on a case-by-case basis, or the board is. We've wrapped up the business of the board to do that. It's essentially looking at a

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, I think commitments are simply one aspect that we looked at. The government can decide on a program that has lapsed to reprofile that funding because the government says, look, we still think this is a priority for us as a government and we don't want to reduce overall

Government Operations committee  It normally does come well after the end of the fiscal year.

Government Operations committee  Sorry, the federal budget?

Government Operations committee  Of the Building Canada fund, roughly $3.3 billion was allocated to Infrastructure Canada through the main and supplementary estimates for 2008-09. The money that's been allocated is still being spent. I think the minister alluded to the fact that many provinces have reached agr

Government Operations committee  We have a precise forecast, just like many of the departments. They may be in a better position to know; we don't have that exact. The money was voted on by Parliament to spend on infrastructure, not to spend on training or whatever, which the $3 billion fund is going to be used

Government Operations committee  Well, as with all budget-related items, it has to come to the board for oversight and approval. The board looks at every program to determine that the terms and conditions are clear going forward, that there's appropriate oversight in the departments. Of course the $3 billion fu

Public Accounts committee  Sorry, I didn't get your last point.

Public Accounts committee  I'm just saying, in terms of the minister, he had the authority to basically take the action he decided on. Therefore, under his guidelines, under the guidelines from ministers, he must ensure, in taking those actions, that he is complying with the regulations and the policies th

Public Accounts committee  On the $25,000, of the $12 billion in contracting across the government, about 10% is for contracts under $25,000. That limit has been in place now, I believe, for over 10 years. Some have argued that, based on inflation and the like, we should be looking at a higher limit.

Public Accounts committee  It's not clear to me. Is the question what are the trend lines since this government has come to power with respect to overall contracts, or with respect to contracts under $25,000? I'm not certain what the—

Public Accounts committee  I'm sorry, I don't have statistics on what has happened over the last couple of years with respect to that range of contracts.