Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Cory, when I asked you earlier how many employees of the Canada Infrastructure Bank spoke French, you told me you did not know. I must say that this surprised me a bit, as the bank employs only 80 people. It seems to me that this is not a lot and that you should be able to give an approximate number. It's not as if the bank employed 5,000, 25,000 or 100,000 people. We would appreciate it if you could clarify this for us. I think it is important to Quebeckers.
In addition, people were promised that, after the bank was created, money from the private sector would be flowing in. Many of us feared there would be a wave of privatization. That wave has not taken place so far because the private sector has not invested any money. As the Parliamentary Budget Officer says [Technical difficulty—Editor], projects are carried out in partnership with public organizations. Your promises have not materialized, as the private sector has not invested any money.
What is even worse is that disbursements have not followed the promises. We were told that $35 billion would be invested in infrastructure projects. However, that money has not been invested so far. Almost no projects have been announced and almost no one wants to do business with the Canada Infrastructure Bank. We thought that you would perhaps try to catch up. Three people have come and gone as chairs of the board of directors or within the bank's leadership. So I understand there being instability and difficulty in being effective.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer's latest document tells us that 90% less has been invested than anticipated in the first nine months of 2020-21. So the situation is not improving, and things are not accelerating.
Do you find it difficult to justify the Canada Infrastructure Bank's existence?