Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I will take advantage of the Privy Council Office officials being here to get into the details of the Impact Canada Initiative. The initiative is said to have two aspects.
The first aspect has to do with clean technologies. $75 million will be invested over the first two years to reduce the reliance on diesel in rural communities. I would first like to quickly discuss what is currently being done, as far as the plan for the first two years goes.
I would also like to know how far along the planning is when it comes to the $300 million spread out over 11 years planned in the smart cities challenge. What kind of participation is there in the competition that was launched for Canada's communities and municipalities?