Government Operations committee  What I was referring to was the Building Canada Fund for Saskatchewan and the announcement under the framework agreement that more funds were available for projects, but I was not specifically identifying projects. There's a joint application process for Saskatchewan. That's just

Government Operations committee  These funds would be ongoing, I think, under the Building Canada Fund, because it is a $33 billion fund. Actually, it's a $9 billion fund for the Building Canada Fund per se, but the Building Canada suite of funds is $33 billion over seven years. So there's a fair amount of money

Government Operations committee  I'm not sure about the communities component of it here, but I don't think so; I don't think this is existing funding.

Government Operations committee  Perhaps I can start, and my colleague Mr. Rochon could add more information. As I understand it, it provides low-cost repayable loans to municipalities to reduce the cost of borrowing and help them build housing-related infrastructure. It's intended to help accelerate infrastru

Government Operations committee  Well, it's a two-year program. It's just started and it will continue through the next two years.

Government Operations committee  As I mentioned, I really do not want to provide a list in advance of tabling that list with Parliament. I think it would be inappropriate for me to do so. There have been announcements on federal infrastructure. That's one of the areas that's not covered in the Budget Implementa

Government Operations committee  Well, as I say, it's not just up to $3 billion in the Budget Implementation vote or TB vote 35. You have $7.5 billion, mainly infrastructure, in the Budget Implementation Act. We know what departments are involved in those.

Government Operations committee  I can't comment on the policy route; maybe my colleagues can. The program you're referring to is the municipal infrastructure lending program at CMHC. It is a $2 billion program over two years that will provide loans to municipalities to reduce the cost of borrowing and help th

Government Operations committee  Maybe I could just make a general observation. Given the orientation of the Budget Implementation Act to infrastructure, you can infer that the bulk of the infrastructure funding will be outside TB vote 35. The Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, the Green Infrastructure Fund, the comm

Government Operations committee  Let me see if I can start with that question. My colleague, Mr. Rochon, may want to join in. The Budget Implementation Act is actually a $10 billion package. I think the estimate of direct program spending from that package is about $7.6 billion. That doesn't include other tax m

Government Operations committee  You would be able to see in TB vote 35 which particular programs or initiatives were funded from TB vote 35. Where it gets a little more complicated is that, because this is bridge funding, bridge financing, you will get some items that are funded in part through TB vote 35 and i

Government Operations committee  That's my understanding. There are a number of framework agreements with provinces under the Building Canada Fund. I'm just looking at an announcement here for Saskatchewan, where there is $236 million from the Building Canada Fund available for 2009-10. Proposals opened March 16

Government Operations committee  We would certainly have to go back to the departments to ask them that question because we wouldn't have that level of detail. But certainly there is a lot of effort under way in work with the provinces on this. I don't know if my colleagues have seen any lists that would indic

Government Operations committee  Absolutely.

Government Operations committee  I'll let my colleague from the Department of Finance answer that.