Finance committee  There are a number of things. My understanding is that their mandate is to look at things like life cycle costing. So it's not just a case of making infrastructure investments, but it's a package. My friend here, Paul, with Bird Construction, many years ago used to talk about how it's not always the low bid that's going to get you the value for your money.

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  Again, I would use the leverage of the P3 model.

Finance committee  I recall.

Finance committee  I was in Ottawa in mid-August for the Association of Municipalities of Ontario's meeting and I used that opportunity to meet with the P3 president, John McBride. They are still staffing, so it was a little slower than we had hoped for. One of the concepts we talked to him about was the $50 million threshold that Minister Flaherty put in place.

Finance committee  Yes, I would be, to a certain degree. Or it could be a similar formula. My one cautionary remark about using any one particular formula, such as the gas tax, is that what we're seeing in the United States--and I think it's going to happen in Canada--is that consumption of fuel is trending downwards because of more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Finance committee  Yes, that's correct. It would be more mathematically based in terms of the modelling that is done. The group we've been talking to over the last few months has actually done some H1N1 modelling for the federal government, so a lot of it has to do with risk management. But essentially it's a way for loading the appropriate data onto a platform, let's call it.

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. I'm not going to comment on any specific projects per se, although anecdotally our groups do hear that a number of projects that are released are perhaps not viewed as the best. They were viewed as more expedient in the sense that this is what could be done within a certain deadline.

Finance committee  I'm not going to name the corporate interest, but there is an outfit in Toronto that's looking at satellite-based technology that could be used for the entire road network. I've been having some discussions with this group, because we're interested in a dialogue towards funding for infrastructure, not that we're for any one particular technology or anything like that.

Finance committee  There's an academic in Los Angeles that says there are people who spend too much time driving around the block. So if you have a satellite GPS-based system in your car, you park where you're allowed to park. You don't have to run out at the end of a meeting, just five minutes late, and get a ticket for $30 or $40.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. My name is Andy Manahan. I'm executive director with the RCCAO. Our group has been in existence for only four years. We are made up of both contractor associations and construction unions. We come to the table speaking on behalf of both labour and management, which I think lends credence to our comments.