Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just have a few general comments I would like to make and I will reserve my questions until we get into detail. I recognize that a lot of the broader government process issues seem to be endemic across all departments. Specific to Public Works and Services, the issue of cost overruns has been one that has been of concern to myself as well. Estimating is an issue, but the key for me is not trying to paint Public Works and Services as the culprit or the bad guy or the whipping boy. This is a process that has flaws in it that often contribute to overruns, starting right at the community level with the groups that are involved in the project, community officers, community advisory groups, and decisions are made, costs committed to, those kinds of things contribute to cost overruns. The issue for me is that Public Works and Services should be playing a lead role, as they provide services to all departments, to look at that overall process and try to find out how do we improve it.
I will have some questions, as well, in regard to the energy strategy, specific to petroleum products. I am interested to know what is happening in regard to fuel storage and NCPC. There is discussion within the communities for eliminating duplication on the question of fuel storage. I am interested to know how much fuel is shipped north by barge. It is my understanding, for example, that routinely seven to ten percent of the fuel is left in the barge. It is also my understanding that it is a matter of practice that the boats pulling the barges north routinely use the client's fuel to fuel their barges. It is a standard practice. It has been there for some time. As we are looking at dollars, energy strategies, those kinds of issues are of significant concern. I will give you some time to look at specifics, but those are the questions I will be asking in that regard.
The concerns I had were addressed in the committee report. My colleague, Mr. Roland, has raised some of them. Those are some specific issues that I just want to give notice at this point to the Minister and his staff, what I will be asking questions about when it comes to detail.