Through our discussions with Infrastructure Canada, we know--and I think the department deserves credit for this--that they certainly did see projects coming in below budget. They were very determined to use that, to pick up those savings and invest them in additional stimulus projects, and in as quickly a manner as possible. I think that's in keeping with the spirit of the stimulus plan, which is to create as many jobs as you can in as short a period as you can.
I think it's also important to note that one of the benefits of a true stimulus plan is that prices should be down because there is less work coming from the private sector, so it's a good time for governments to get work done if they can find the money, because of course there should be overall savings. Certainly what we heard, especially in the first six months to a year after the program began, was that we were seeing very competitive bids. The sense was that people were hungry for the work.
As we've gone through this, I think that's been less true because the economy has picked up. Certainly, in some areas, private sector construction has also increased, so there has been more demand.
But yes, there are a lot of examples from Infrastructure Canada of projects coming in below budget.