My assumption is always that all officials—the ones I work with, anyway—want to do good work and to serve their governments well. That is my premise. Just now, that gentleman said that the federal public service is one of the best.
We collaborate with everyone we work with, from provinces, territories or community organizations. At our end, we took the shot. We had a call for projects on the table and we let our colleagues know that an opportunity existed. Officials work for their government and reflect the decisions of that government. We reached out to them, we made some calls and we let them know that an opportunity existed. As they told you when they met you, I believe, they support their own government and the decisions were made by that government.