Mr. Speaker, I want to briefly note the amendment to Motion No. 1 moved by the member for Medicine Hat, increasing the $2 billion threshold to $3.5 billion. The reason I want to address this matter is that it has become an issue in debate with regard to the word “may”: that the government “may” make the investments in foreign aid, environment, post-secondary and housing, and there has been some question about why “may” is used.
First, as has been indicated, the word “may” always appears in budget documents.