Both the government and Mr. Kennedy submitted figures. I take both sets of numbers with a grain of salt. The purpose of the motion before us is to call Mr. Page, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, before the committee. Before we invite him, I would like to ask him if he is able to answer our questions. Theoretically, the Auditor General should be the one who conducts the audit, and we cannot interfere with her work. She will no doubt do it, but she is probably waiting for more projects and spending. At some point, she will table a report on infrastructure spending.
I would say that those who would have good reason to object would be municipal officials. In Quebec, the infrastructure program is working fairly well, even though federal authorization can sometimes take a while. The Quebec government is the one setting the priorities.
I would prefer that we write to Mr. Page to ask if he is able to answer certain questions that we have and, if so, how much time he would need to do so. I would not want to waste his time, since he has other files that already take up a great deal of it. We want him to appear before the committee so that he can talk about his knowledge and analysis of the government's infrastructure spending. If he needs to do three months of research before he can answer our questions, I want him to say so, and we could invite him in three months' time. I do not want him to come here for nothing. I would prefer that we write him, but that is not what the motion says. We could agree to ask Mr. Page what he is able to do, if he has the time and the staff to do it, and how long he would need.
You can be certain that I am against this motion as it stands now.