Thank you, Madam Chair.
I would just say to my colleague that this is the reason that we in opposition did support the budget. Although we had many other reservations, we all—or at least most of us in terms of the opposition—understood the need to move quickly. I appreciate the candour.
Earlier, one of our colleagues had asked you if you had seen the “Creating Jobs” website, and asked if you could provide your feedback once you've had a chance to take a look. We would love to have your feedback as an entire committee, if that's possible. I will just give you advance warning that the “Creating Jobs” website in fact lists Building Canada fund projects, which are historical and don't relate to the stimulus projects in particular. Those stimulus projects that are listed are once again those that have been announced, not necessarily the ones that have been started. Already we've heard that barely a third of those announced have actually been started, and we don't know how much of that progress has actually been made.
I would also point out to my colleague who said you had suggested 34,000 jobs were created that this was in fact coming from the Construction Sector Council, not you, and it was, as I made the point earlier, based on numbers that I think are really quite erroneous. We continue to ask the government for actual jobs created. We have not been able to get that information. I would ask you again for your thoughts on that particular website. That would be very helpful.
My question is this. My colleague says that the minister has promised to make the payments according to the rules. There is no disagreement with that; the problem is with the rules. The problem we continue to point out is with the 2011 timeframe. Under those very rules, of the two-thirds of the projects that have not been started yet, many of them may not actually get started because of the concern of the municipalities ultimately being on the hook. If that were the case, just hypothetically, if one-half of the jobs that have not been started end up not being started, that would be a full third of the projects that have been announced. What would that do to your industries?