Let me preface my remarks by saying I'm not an expert in economics or in trade. But I will tell you this, from my observations of the automotive sector around the world--sorry, I would also say I'm a taxpayer, so I have a problem with excess spending. That's why I keep emphasizing that we don't object to strong reviews at all.
But at the same time, I think that being dogmatically against having public and private sector operations working together is just unwise, because every other jurisdiction in the world, especially in large industries like automotive, are doing it. If we don't do it, our lunch will be eaten for us by somebody else. We don't have a choice. If we don't form these partnerships and keep them vibrant and healthy with continued sustained investments over a long period of time, we will lose every battle.
The statistics have shown...and I don't have hard numbers here, but I heard at the CAPC meeting last week that the typical payback period for many of these public sector investments in automotive facilities is in the three- to five-year range. Then those investments are sustained for many years after that, with employment and tax revenue from employment and all that sort of thing.
This works. That's why everybody else is doing it. So we need to as well.