I am not going to speculate about the reasons why the government would make this kind of transfer. The most generous explanation that I can provide is that it was done inadvertently.
You will have the opportunity next week to ask officials from Canadian Heritage if they recommended this. Normally, if these people recommend something, there should be reasons for it. These reasons would refute our statements. Either there was an issue with duplication—this is not the information we obtained—or someone felt the money was wasted, or it was a greater priority to head in this direction and just too bad for research and development!
Next week, the officials should be able to tell you whether or not they recommended this to the minister. If it is not the case, other reasons will have to be found. I will not fabricate any reasons for the purpose of this exercise.