Industry committee  You'll see that entire vote. I don't know that they identify it by region particularly. It's one big number for that department. I don't have it in front of me, but that's the principle, and I'm quite certain that's the way it shows up.

Industry committee  Sure, absolutely. We can get you some detailed answers on this later, but the main reason is that at one point in time the infrastructure budget for Infrastructure Canada was actually found in several votes all across government. ACOA, Développement économique Canada in Quebec, and Western Economic Diversification, for example, all had pieces of that vote.

Industry committee  Absolutely. I think if you go to the minister's remarks, there are a couple of things there that I think are critically important. The western diversification program was born in 1987. If you look at where western Canadian businesses were at that point, a whole bunch of our major competitors today weren't even in existence then as major players.

Industry committee  Thank you for the question. Previously, a significant component of the department's funding was up for renewal every period of years. Budget 2010 puts an end to that cycle by proposing that funding be added permanently to the reference levels of the department. In the future, we won't see the same drop-off related to that key component of our funding.

Industry committee  That is the amount of money we expect to use this year. The proportions are still exactly the same overall—the same as they were in the spring. The question is when that funding will be used. The proportions presented at the beginning of the year have not changed at all; the amounts allocated for each region of Canada remain the same.

Industry committee  Yes, I can explain that. In estimating additional expenditures, we are seeking to be given the funding we need to comply with contribution agreements that we expect to sign between now and the end of the year. When the budget was first passed in the spring, the budget funds were not yet in our accounts.

Industry committee  It's because of the number of projects to be funded. The total amounts for the department were basically calculated on a per capita basis for Canada as a whole—

Industry committee  The total amounts have not changed at all. The question is really how much money we will need between now and March 31. If we had a lot more money available, we would not necessarily need the amounts you see in the Supplementary Estimates. However, we don't have that money. As a result, we have to come before Parliament to request that these funds be made available to us, because otherwise, we will not be able to meet our commitments under contribution agreements between now and the end of the year.

Industry committee  Yes, but that did not include all the funds under the Economic Action Plan.

Industry committee  If I can just say something very quickly, under the terms and conditions of the program, it was required to be arenas, gymnasia, swimming pools, sports fields, various courts, or multi-purpose facilities. So first of all, it needed to be one of those, and again, it needed to be something that you could start very soon.

Industry committee  Yes, certainly. Thank you very much for the question. So far in the projects we've approved under the CAF program, 51,000 person-months of employment have been created, which we think is a significant volume. Those are the numbers reported to us by the proponents of these projects.

Industry committee  Western Diversification works with the Community Futures organizations in western Canada. There are other organizations in other parts of the country that work with them. When I was talking about the repayment, I was referring to another of our partners that does a type of work similar to the CFDCs' work.

Industry committee  It's quite a rigorous process. As you can imagine, we're obviously dealing with large amounts of taxpayers' money. Not only are we dealing with large amounts of taxpayers' money, we're dealing with people's lives and economic interests and, in many cases, the lives and economic interests of communities as well.

Industry committee  To use an analogy, it's not unlike getting your first job. They say you're hired, you work for two weeks, and then you get a paycheque. You don't get a paycheque on day one, unless you're really lucky.

Industry committee  I can talk a little bit about that, and my CFO might want to jump in with some specific numbers from a Western Diversification perspective. The critical thing to launch work in the type of role that we have is the certainty of knowing that somebody is going to pay the bills at the end of the day.