I think, giving full credit to the government for lowering the corporate tax rate, introducing the two-year writeoff last year in the budget, making the commitment to improve regulations to invest in infrastructure and the borders, and investing in R and D and schools and things like that--these are all extremely important things. Are there things that could be done better? Sure. Often this isn't an issue of funding; it's an issue of actually getting it done and connecting the dots and making sure that research gets into the hands of industry. That's not a fiscal issue; it's an issue with how the programs are implemented.
Going to the CCA issue, there's one particular issue at play here. I think we all have to realize that when Finance talks about CCA, its fundamental idea is that the depreciation, the capital cost allowance, should mirror the useful life of the asset. I don't think that's right and I think it distorts business decisions. On average, a company will get a return on the investment to cover the cost of an asset from a particular product line in about three years. Really what we're talking about here is not on the tax side, not government redirecting revenue to provide a benefit; it's just taking less money away from business. It's leaving money in the hands of the businesses that can spend it best. So I think the idea of the useful life of an asset is a good model; it extends the writeoff period to a time far beyond the financial payback the company itself sees. So there are some fundamental policy problems here. The five-year window was very, very important, just to ensure that the two-year writeoff works.
It's a great announcement about ALCOA. We have other investments that are coming in. I would guarantee, though, that ALCOA will not be able to use the two-year writeoff. I think we need to--