On the first question, I think the dollar is rising because of forces that are largely, though not entirely, outside our control. Oil and gas prices and U.S. deficits are clearly driving our dollar more than our fundamental cost competitiveness within Canada, though we think the Bank of Canada has some margin within which to manage the dollar and has shown no evidence of managing it to the lower end of that margin.
That being said, I think taxes are a good place to start. Our focus really is on the structural policy elements of business climate change: tax, competition policy, rail policy. We're not focused so much on the spending side, although in some areas government spending is very helpful.
On the tax side, we have been proposing a specific investment tax credit for capital investment in this sector that would be time limited and refundable and that would have the advantage of allowing companies that are in a non-taxable position to take fiscal advantage of it. We know the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters association also has a proposal for accelerated capital depreciation, similar to what the United States put in place in the early part of this decade when their dollar was very high and they wanted to support investment in their manufacturing sector. That kind of approach would also be very helpful to our sector, though unless it is refundable it presents a challenge for companies who perhaps need the investment the most and might not be able to take advantage of it if it isn't refundable. This also is a very good proposal, which I would recommend to the committee.