Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Cartwright, we've heard several times this assertion that there simply isn't enough public money to invest in all the infrastructure that we need. That is never really contested, and I'm interested in your thoughts on that. Obviously there are limits, but we don't talk about what those limits are. We know that the federal government can provide financing at much more affordable rates than private capital has access to.
My question is around the fact that not only are we talking about privatizing types of infrastructure that have traditionally been public but also how there are cases in which the federal government is investing vast sums of money in infrastructure that has traditionally been private. I'm thinking specifically of $30 billion being invested in an oil pipeline that the Auditor General has said isn't going to make us any money. In fact, it's going to result in the government leaving a lot of money on the table and losing money on that investment.
Is there an opportunity cost involved there? Could that $30 billion be better spent on resolving the infrastructure deficit that so many communities across the country face?