I'll be sharing my time with Mr. Lapointe.
I have one quick question about CMHC, especially in light of CMHC's really vital role in affordable housing and with respect to first nations housing.
Minister, you're probably aware that in the 2010-11 Public Accounts, CMHC reported $247.7 million in lapsed funding for, and I quote, “Low-cost loans for new construction projects to eligible First Nations”. Because that seemed like such a huge amount, we followed up. We contacted the department, and we were informed that, quote, “...the amount of lapse should have been reported as $16.3 million”—not $247.7 million, but just $16.3 million.
So an amount of $231.4 million was put in this line when it should have been put under “Advances under the National Housing Act”. That's a quarter-billion dollar error.
Then we followed up with another question, and CMHC responded that they'd made another error two pages later, this time putting another $208 million in the wrong line.
Now, given the role that CMHC plays in programs that are really vital to Canadians, I wonder if you just want to make a comment about how we can have any kind of confidence in how CMHC is managing a portfolio that's literally worth hundreds of billions of dollars.