I'm very pleased to respond. The money is not gone. Capital spending can be rolled over, so it does not disappear. I think our government has been more successful than the previous government.
For example, the MRIF program was announced with $1 billion in funding on August 20, 2003. It took almost three years for all the agreements with the provinces and territories to be signed. In fact, in the case of British Columbia it was in 2006. In 2005-06, two years after the program was announced, only approximately $11.5 million had been spent, against a budget of $134 million: 91% of the program's budget for the first two years had lapsed and was rolled over.
I am not satisfied with the speed with which decisions and approvals are given for infrastructure. I was sent to this department with a mandate to make things happen. We are working constructively with provinces and municipalities to identify projects to give the federal green light to, letting them go forward as quickly as possible.