Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
To address your first question, it's very difficult to attribute job losses directly to the dollar's increase. I think what we can see in our sector are the 11,000 job losses over the last three years. In the manufacturing sector as a whole within Canada, we saw a drop of 100,000 jobs over the past year. Clearly the manufacturing sector in Canada is facing a variety of challenges leading to job losses in the sector, of which the dollar is a significant one in our sector, particularly on the pulp and paper side, which also confronts high energy costs and other market challenges, making it somewhat more difficult for it to respond.
In terms of the productivity argument of the Bank of Canada, that we should be going out and buying more capital equipment, Shawn has made the point that the usual logic doesn't apply in our sector; we don't get cost savings on capital equipment when the dollar goes up because most of our capital equipment is purchased from Europe. I think the broader issue is that capital investments will be made, and capital equipment will be purchased, where the economy is seen to be a long-term good host to this kind of economic activity.
Investment intentions in the manufacturing sector, and in our sector, I would say, are headed south. What happens with the rise in the dollar is that plants and equipment that otherwise might be purchased and put in place in Canada will be put in place south of the border. So you get decisions that are being made on the basis of the currency, as opposed to being made on the basis of fundamental competiveness, when that currency is expected to continue to be where it is.
I think that's why, from a government perspective, the issue is really, what can you do about that? It's a matter of trying to create the best countervailing or most positive business climate for capital investment you possibly can in order to encourage that kind of investment.
Shawn, did you want to comment on either of those two, before I go to the third question about rail?