Evidence of meeting #54 for Finance in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was research.
2:25 p.m.
Bloc
Jean-Yves Laforest Bloc Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC
All right, thank you.
Turning to Mr. Oberman, you say that Woodcliffe Corporation has assembled the largest portfolio of heritage properties belonging to private interests. You mentioned the Senate building and those of the National Capital Commission in Ottawa. I didn't know that. We think certain buildings belong to the Government of Canada, whereas they belong to private interests.
2:25 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Woodcliffe Corporation
The buildings referred to in our brief are the offices of the Senate and the offices of the National Capital Commission. It's a project known as “The Chambers”, behind the PMO in Ottawa.
We don't actually own the Senate chamber.
2:25 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
2:25 p.m.
A voice
Do you want it?
2:25 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Woodcliffe Corporation
If you're considering selling it, we would be interested.
2:25 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
2:25 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Woodcliffe Corporation
We could be very interested, yes.
2:25 p.m.
Bloc
Jean-Yves Laforest Bloc Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC
Very good. I wanted to understand a little more. Thank you.
2:25 p.m.
Conservative
Ted Menzies Conservative Macleod, AB
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair
Thank you to our witnesses today. There have been some very interesting comments.
Mr. Galloway, the company Holcim has to do with the dry cement product?
2:30 p.m.
Senior Vice-President, Government Affairs, Holcim Canada Inc.
We're the dry cement product, yes.
2:30 p.m.
Conservative
2:30 p.m.
Senior Vice-President, Government Affairs, Holcim Canada Inc.
Yes. We trade under Dufferin Concrete. Cement and aggregate, along with water and some other additives, go into making concrete.
2:30 p.m.
Conservative
2:30 p.m.
Senior Vice-President, Government Affairs, Holcim Canada Inc.
Yes, the whole infrastructure program is very good for us. We're seeing some good growth in both construction and concrete, but not so much in cement and aggregate at the moment.
We're seeing some infrastructure money right now, and it is having an impact. Trenton air force base is one of our key projects. We think more money is coming into the system and that will bode well for us, but we're somewhat concerned that as we move into the normal budget cycle in 2010 that some of the municipal budgets may slow up a bit.
The side benefit of the public infrastructure is that we're starting to see some enthusiasm in the market on the private side. One of our builders this past weekend had 47 homes that he wanted to sell and 48 people; he sold 47 homes.
There is some momentum building, and I think that's positive, but at the end of the day governments, at both the federal and provincial levels, have to keep doing what they say they will do around infrastructure.
2:30 p.m.
Conservative
Ted Menzies Conservative Macleod, AB
That was the point I wanted to make. We put taxpayers' dollars into this to stimulate the economy, and I wanted to hear that we didn't just pull a lot of business forward but that we actually initiated business.
You said you see houses selling now. My daughter just put her house on the market and sold it in three days, for more than what she was asking. To me, things are starting to come back.
Our concern is how we stop that spending. We've had a lot of witnesses tell us they need more money, but at some point we have to let private enterprise take over.
2:30 p.m.
Senior Vice-President, Government Affairs, Holcim Canada Inc.
At the end of the day, when we're finished our infrastructure spending and these projects are done, we have to rely on the private developers.
The other message we have for government, both federally and provincially, is to invest in the triple Ps and get other sources of funding there, because there is still a deficit in our infrastructure program. You can see that with recent investments in the province of Quebec; the economy has not suffered as much as Ontario's, for example. I think that is a function of infrastructure.
Once the private sector starts picking up...I think we're really going to see a recovery over the late part of 2011.
2:30 p.m.
Conservative
Ted Menzies Conservative Macleod, AB
That's good to hear.
I have a question for Ms. Wilding.
I just need a little bit of an explanation on your first policy recommendation, where you say, “The Board also recommends that GTF monies be used only for transit in those municipalities that have transit systems.”
I represent a totally rural riding. I hope you're not suggesting that none of the gas tax money that's paid by my constituents would go back to those communities. Am I reading this wrong?
2:30 p.m.
Conservative
Ted Menzies Conservative Macleod, AB
Okay, thank you. You scared me there for a minute.
It's interesting; we had this discussion at lunch today about funding transit systems, and I'll use the example I've used before. Some of my constituents drive 100 kilometres, round trip, to get their mail; how do we balance that? They drive on gravel roads.
They have e-mail, by the way, not broadband to everyone, but we do have it.
That's always the challenge we face, and we understand that. When we go to the city, we use the transit system. It's good for the environment, it's a good way to move people, and it's good for business, but we as legislators have to balance that.
2:35 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Board of Trade
Correct. It's not an either/or, but as you've rightly described, once you look at the drive in and at where the populations are settling and where the labour attractiveness is, the need to create that strong regional transit system becomes increasingly important. It's basically the foundation for any urban centre or regional economy.
So we're saying that's a critical piece, but by putting the funds there, the government allows the municipalities to take some of their funding--if we move in this direction that we're suggesting of a national transit strategy--and potentially redeploy it to other areas.
