Grants and contributions are a bit of a different instrument from procurement. Procurement is a very prescriptive set of rules. Grants and contributions are an instrument through which we provide funding to a recipient to further the objectives of the Government of Canada. This is not a case in which we're acquiring, specifically, a good or service in return: We're contributing and providing money to a project's ultimate outcomes.
With respect to thresholds, because of the diversity of programs across the Government of Canada—specifically, infrastructure or health, or working with small NGOs that provide local community services—we did not set out a threshold or definitions within the construct of the guidance for grants and contributions. Rather, we pointed directly to the definitions and thresholds contained within the PSPC framework for buy Canadian.
That said, in the assessments that came back, most of the departments were including, at the program level, eligibility criteria in programs that are well below the $5-million threshold. Therefore, we can say that there are 21 departments and 116 programs that are extending the criteria to programs below the $5-million threshold. Because of the nature of the small amount, this will extend the program's annual funding by a further $185 million in total.
