Mr. Van Kesteren, welcome to Montreal.
You're asking a very important question. There is a debate about this issue in Quebec society right now. There have been a lot of accusations, lots of innuendo, and very little proof, but there is still a great deal of public concern.
I think there's an overwhelming consensus in Quebec that the Government of Quebec should launch a public inquiry into the construction industry. In fact, Montreal city council has adopted a resolution on this, not once, but twice, and that's exceptional for us, as we're not a provincial opposition party. However, on a municipal level, the elected officials are reacting to what they're hearing from their constituents.
In terms of our own governance models, we've put together a series of reforms internally to ensure there isn't collusion between construction companies when they respond to public bids.
I wear two hats: one at city council and one at the transit commission. And I can assure you that we have rigorous control over our contracts in both areas. But there are limits to what we can do. There are provincial laws that kick in. The lowest bidder is always going to get the contract, but we can't be sure 100% of the time that there hasn't been any collusion between the lowest bidder and other construction companies.
That's what the Government of Quebec is looking at right now. They've set up an anti-collusion squad. There are investigations. There have been a lot of discussions recently about the Duchesneau report. The government is going to have to react to that in some way, and I don't want to preclude what they will do or to comment or make a value judgment on how they're handling the situation. I don't have all of the facts they may well have.
But we as a transit operator are saying that we can provide Canada with a great future. We've done wonderful things in Montreal, but there is a limit to what municipalities can do on their own. We're going to need your help and the help of the Government of Quebec as well. We have a slightly different model from the other provinces. The funds you provide go through the SOFIL before they get to us.
But clearly, whether you decide to lower taxes or to invest and put off deficit reduction, we think transit should be looked at in an entirely different way.
As I mentioned before to Ms. McLeod and Mr. Jean, we're the good cholesterol that makes the economy run at the same time as we protect the environment. So we hope you will take that into account regardless of the recommendations you ultimately make.