Madam Speaker, it is unfortunate that the Member was not at the detailed briefing provided to Members yesterday. The federal government is fully aware that some of the dollars were lapsed, and that since we set up the languages unit there was better accounting, reporting and tracking of program expenditures. It has improved substantially.

I think the Member has to understand that the overall federal funding that is made available, whether it's for languages or any other government program, is under severe scrutiny. The federal government has a difficulty with continuing to finance provincial/territorial programs, as well as their own programs.

The decisions about cuts should probably be put in context of federal problems and their difficulty with funding at the levels they were previously able to do, Madam Speaker.