Well, Minister, the government's budget of a couple of years ago projected 0.6% GDP growth because of its infrastructure investments, which is roughly $12 billion a year, but the PBO says that we can only expect about 0.2%, one-fifth of one per cent of GDP growth, which is only $4 billion a year, as a result of these infrastructure investments. Therefore, we've lost half a per cent of projected GDP growth because of the government's inaction on infrastructure.
In terms of jobs, the PBO reports that only about 11,000 in the last year can be attributed to the government's infrastructure plans. There again, that is far less than what was projected in the government's own documents several years ago.
I'd also say that the much-touted figure that Canada has the best GDP growth in the G7 is somewhat misleading, because we don't have very good per capita GDP growth. At the end of the day, if you've got high rates of population growth, that masks per capita GDP growth. It you look at our per capita numbers, it's roughly half of one per cent over the next three years, on the government's own GDP projections. It's actually quite abysmal GDP growth, and that's the reason why Canadians are racking up so much household debt, just to afford the cost of living.
I want to ask you another question. Will you admit that at a minimum, the government hasn't been forthcoming with information on infrastructure? The PBO has reported that it was difficult to get information from government departments and agencies. It reported in March that only some 10,000 projects were identified in phase one of the government's plan, and then on April 19, you came forward with more information that some 20,000 projects had been identified. Every several months, there seems to be new information that's different or that changes the story.
Our worry, as members of Parliament, is that the government doesn't have a handle on its $188-billion, 12-year plan. It's one of the largest initiatives of the Government of Canada, and we don't have a great deal of confidence that the various departments and agencies of the government have a good handle on the overall plan, where the money's going to be spent, and how we're going to ensure the maximum return for Canadians' tax dollars.