Minister, $89 million is close to being crumbs. These figures come from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. You can check them. This $500 million figure has been checked. I am not pulling numbers out of thin air. I am referring only to Fisheries and Oceans; imagine what the situation is at the Department of Transport.
Most of these projects have already been assessed and checked. We know exactly what needs to be done. For example, in Quebec, all infrastructure has been assessed twice over a three-year period. Eighty-nine million dollars will not solve the problems, it is going to take $500 million. This would have been one way to create jobs very quickly. These projects are shovel-ready and the department could have started them, if it had been given sufficient funds.
You said you wanted to move forward quickly. You would have had the perfect opportunity to do so, since these projects have already been assessed and are shovel-ready.