Where do I begin? First, I do not know where you got $1.2 billion from. On the contrary, my findings and those of the reports submitted by the firms that were retained, namely Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank and the Bank of Montreal, confirm that this transaction undeniably benefits the taxpayer.
The observations of Richard Ellis from the years 2000, 2003, 2004 and 2005, are accurate. The Government of Canada's real property portfolio is enormous. It is one of the largest in North America. Not only is it enormous, but it also includes office buildings, museums, police detachments, prisons, laboratories, in short, a wide range of very different categories. Some buildings are more suitable to the recent operation than others.
There is always an underlying risk associated with property. All these reports, even the more recent ones I alluded to earlier, say directly or indirectly that at the end of the day, the taxpayer is still the one who pays the bill. Investment is not set in stone. When investments do materialize, it is usually later. The men and women who manage our real property inventory, under the leadership of Mr. McGrath, are doing their best in a situation that is not necessarily well suited to real property management. Real property management is outside the government's mandate, Ms. Bourgeois.