Finance committee  It was certainly helpful to our industry. It was probably more helpful to the downstream industries, such as the construction, the trades, and the operating and maintenance people who operate the facilities. While there were some complexities with it around the deadline, I woul

Finance committee  I have the title of the report here; it's Public Infrastructure Underinvestment: The Risk to Canada’s Economic Growth. The report forecasts a drag, if we maintain the status quo, net of stimulus—that is, not including the stimulus, but just the status quo.... The stimulus did hel

Finance committee  The infrastructure underlies virtually every aspect of our lives—our roads, our water systems. You cannot go into a building--including this building--you cannot go into a factory that creates jobs, you cannot go into a car plant, you cannot go into a mine, you cannot go into a p

Finance committee  To clarify, we don't see a long-term investment strategy and a stimulus program as being mutually exclusive. In terms of the stimulus program being what it is, which was very clear to us, we accept the fact that there's a March 31 deadline, because you have to pick a deadline. H

Finance committee  That's correct. As we say, we believe it to be a core business of government. That's not to say there's not a role for other partners, but it is a core business of government.

Finance committee  I agree that there is a very important distinction between the short-term programs and the long-term programs. Minister Baird was upfront with us from the beginning. We wanted long term; he was very clear that this was to address the short-term economic crisis. And in fairness, t

Finance committee  Yes. We haven't seen details, but certainly the suggestion is that he's prepared to take a pragmatic, flexible, and reasonable approach, and if that's the case, then we're very supportive.

Finance committee  It means ongoing.

Finance committee  Well, it's infrastructure forever, which employs everybody. The challenge we have is that infrastructure assets in many cases typically have 50-, 65-, sometimes 100-year design lives, and what we're trying to do is deal with them in annual cash in, cash out budgeting cycles, an

Finance committee  First of all, I want to be fair to all parties. The government made it very clear to us right from the onset that this was not a long-term infrastructure catch-up program; this was a job creation program, and I think on balance it was largely successful. The very rigid deadline

Finance committee  We'd simply like to conclude by re-emphasizing that it's our view that public infrastructure is a core business of government. That's not to say there can't be private sector involvement. Infrastructure must be considered an investment, not an expense. Embracing a long-term str

Finance committee  Good afternoon. I'm John Gamble, president of the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies. I'm accompanied by our vice-president of policy and public affairs, Susie Grynol. We're pleased to have this opportunity to appear before you. We are a business association repre

Finance committee  I did practise for ten years, but I'm the chief staff officer at the moment.

Finance committee  I'm going to answer this carefully. I think our members are quite happy to pay taxes when they feel they're getting value out of those taxes. They don't want to pay too much, and they don't want taxes going to things that don't benefit our quality of life here in Canada. Howeve

Finance committee  Absolutely. By the way, we were very satisfied with the report of the Standing Committee on Government Operations. Hopefully this committee will throw its weight behind it. A professional service is not the same thing as purchasing equipment. It's not the same thing as straight