We also haven't seen any kind of realistic flow chart, yardstick to measure progress by, or realistic prospects of results. The general public and we as their representatives have been asked to sign a blank cheque. If we spend this money here it will have x results, but no one has even told us what the x results should be or what the expectations are, or given us a realistic timeframe or a yardstick to measure progress by. We had very vague language in the Speech From The Throne and then in the budget, but we haven't seen any hard numbers.
I don't think we should wait until May to see whether or not it is a reasonable plan, because these things can still be tweaked, even after the enabling legislation has passed. There can still be modifications, for instance, in how municipalities and provinces are to come up with equal funding. These things can be tinkered with to ensure easy flow of this money.
The efficacy of it hasn't been explained to anybody's satisfaction. I think if you look at the mandate of our committee, that's exactly within government operations--the analysis of government operations to ensure that taxpayers are getting good value for their dollars, and that there's a realistic plan with outcomes and a yardstick to measure progress. That's how I'd sum it up--as a really good use of our time for quite a few meetings at this early stage.