We've all driven on Highway 40 or on the Autoroute Ville-Marie and we know what asphalt is like, don't we? I can tell you that concrete highways are the way of the future. In Toronto, for example, Highway 407 is completely concrete. The Queen Elizabeth Way is completely concrete with an asphalt overlay. The reason they use concrete is that it lasts 40 to 50 years. It is not subject to the potholes that you see with asphalt. It's very reflective; you can have 22% fewer light standards, which saves electricity. It is 3% to 7% more fuel efficient for trucks.
When oil was down to $20 to $25 a barrel, asphalt was very cheap. Now that oil is between $60 and $150 a barrel, concrete highways are getting closer to being competitive in price with asphalt highways--build it once, build it right. It may cost slightly more, but it is adaptable to our climate. The transportation advisory council, which works with all of the transportation ministers across Canada, is actively looking at this. So is the federal transportation minister. In Quebec alone, between federal and provincial funding, we're going to spend about $66 billion on redoing bridges and highways. I know that our industry will be making the point that it's cost-effective. If you only look at a five- to seven-year period, asphalt is going to win, time and again. But if you look at a 35- to 50-year period, concrete will win over and over again and provide a much more sustainable product. After all, asphalt is a petrochemical and a fossil fuel. We should be looking to use other resources besides fossil fuels.