Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. President, for being here before our committee this morning. We do appreciate your testimony and your work. I know that you're working overtime to ensure that the budget and the dollars that do need to flow do flow in due course.
It's interesting that the Liberals have engaged in one of the most severe second-blow types of arguments that I've ever heard. It was probably even more clearly articulated in the last statements by the Liberals, in which they changed their questioning from asking why you are going to expedite all of this money, this $3 billion, to at the same time asking why you aren't pushing this other money out faster.
I do not envy you, in terms of your responsibilities and your desire to make the opposition parties happy during this time as well.
Clearly you have worked very hard to try to explain to the opposition members exactly what this $3 billion will be spent on, but I think it is very important that the average person out there clearly understand that the $3 billion being brought forward in vote 35.... Maybe I should put this in the form of a question. Is there a single cent of that $3 billion that will be able to be spent on anything that is not outlined within the parameters of the budget, which the Liberal members have already voted in favour of?