Thank you, Mr. Chair.
As an observation, it seems that committee members of our oversight committee have worked really hard to try to better understand the continuum of government financing through estimates, budget, and public accounts, etc. It seems that you just learn the game and they change the rules on you, because lately, there has been a real expansion in both dollar value and frequency of lapsed funding in a number of government departments. It's almost right across the board. It's either really bad budgeting, or it's a deliberate subversive attempt to cut budgets without telling Canadians, or without telling oversight committees. Then the minister has this wonderful surplus at the end, pulls a sedated bunny out of a tattered top hat and declares. “Shazam! I have a surplus”.
Can you tell me if this lapsed funding issue is going to be something we have to watch for in the public works area? Do you anticipate this notion of lapsed funding popping up as something that we have to deal with in this committee?