Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Welcome, Minister, and your officials here at committee today. We certainly appreciate you devoting some of your time and providing us with an update from your department.
Minister, in your presentation you spoke a little bit about the various federal government programs to support infrastructure. In 2007, of course, our government established the original Building Canada fund. That fund is in its final number of months at this point, as we speak. In the meantime, in our most recent budget economic action plan of 2013, we renewed the Building Canada fund, now the longest and largest infrastructure fund in Canadian history, with over $50 billion.
In developing that renewed Building Canada fund, Mr. Minister, I presume that significant consultations must have taken place, consultations with important stakeholders, with provinces, with municipalities. Could you update us on the various consultations that did take place and how they contributed to the development of our renewed Building Canada fund.