Thank you.
It's not an easy one, but it is important to remember that it hasn't been an easy situation. These have not been normal times. As the members of the committee know well, two years ago Canada and the rest of the world entered into the worst economic crisis in 50 years. I'd say that the success the federal government has had with its stimulus plan has been because it has had clear objectives and it has been structured, but it has also been flexible enough to reflect the differences in the different parts of the country and to appreciate that challenges will come up along the way.
You're quite right--municipalities have worked extremely hard to put forward projects that could be finished on time and to keep them on time. But I think there is also a basic sense of fairness so that if a community has done its best to play by the rules but life has presented a circumstance due to which it cannot meet what was always a very aggressive and ambitious timeline, then the question is how we can serve Canadians best. Leaving projects unfinished in those circumstances or handing the bill to the local government wouldn't seem to most people to be the best solution.
Certainly there is a strong desire to meet the objectives and to make the program reach its target, but in a difficult situation I think--and our members think--there has to be an ability to respond to new situations.