Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much for being here.
On behalf of the New Democrats, I want to extend my condolences again to your minister. We certainly understand why she can't be here, and our sympathies go out to her.
I'm a little surprised that the parliamentary secretary isn't filling in for you. You're kind of in an awkward position, I think, having to answer our questions with no political person there to take some of the heat. I appreciate you doing that.
I want to ask you about the $2 million that is in the estimates for advertising the Canada job grant program, which the House leader actually acknowledged in the House is simply a concept. As he said, it's a “proposal that needs to be fleshed out and developed fully.”
I wonder if you can just confirm for me that in fact negotiations for the Canada job grant haven't even started yet with the provinces.