Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have been biding my time, quietly waiting for the right opportunity to ask a question on a single issue. It applies not only to this department but to some extent virtually every other department in the government, where departments have contracts or agreements with non-profit or non-government organizations, to look seriously at multi-year funding for the contracting of services and the provisions that these organizations provide. We have had a lot of discussion on this, Mr. Chairman, the value of these organizations to service delivery is not an issue.
What is at issue is the sustainability and the confidence that these organizations have in going about their service and their business. As a number of them are volunteer organizations, the effort that both they and government staff go through on a yearly basis to set up contracts, to audit, to monitor, to keep these organizations going is not worth it on an annual basis. Multi-year support is something we have talked about on numerous occasions.
What I would like to ask the Minister, Mr. Chairman, is where in the department's program, and I am sorry. I am at a bit of a disadvantage, as I was not at this committee, but where in this department is some demonstration that we are looking seriously and moving some multi-year funding as a way of helping the sustainability and the confidence of non-government organizations? Thank you.