Thank you, Mr. Peterson.
We're well aware of the Senate committee's interest in this area and specifically with respect to how the results framework—the new Treasury Board policy on results—could be used as a basis of parliamentary control. We have not proceeded any further than the current pilot project simply because we are looking to first assess whether this is meeting parliamentarians' needs and then to discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages of that project.
To be very clear, I'll draw the committee's attention to the deck that was prepared as background for this meeting. On page 5 of that deck, we present the main estimates for Transport Canada. We see that in 2015–16, before the pilot project, Parliament approved $683 million in grants and contributions through Transport Canada's vote 10. Within that single vote, there were six different grants and 20 different contributions. The department was able to manage the requirements in that single vote.
As a result of the pilot project in 2016–17, we disaggregated Transport Canada's requirements by purpose. We had a separate vote for grants and contributions related to gateways and corridors, totalling $258 million; a separate vote for grants and contributions related to transportation infrastructure, of $103 million; and a third vote, which was an aggregate of smaller requirements.
This is exactly what we mean by purpose-based votes. We disaggregated the one big number according to the purposes of the department. In our view, that provides a line of sight based on the specific purpose of the program, and it provides ongoing information throughout the year.
On page 6, we see that in 2016–17 there was a difference between what was authorized—$437 million in votes—and what was actually spent, $312 million. You can break that out by the lapse. We see that the biggest lapse—$101 million—was in the biggest vote, which was for gateways and corridors. There, $258 million was approved and $157 million was spent. That will introduce questions about the program dynamics, in that it was not able to expend the money authorized by Parliament.
This is exactly what we mean by purpose-based control. We are disaggregating a big number by the purpose of the program so that there is an enhanced line of sight in reporting in this area.