When we received the invitation to appear before this committee—and we thank you—our team thought about Canada’s future as a nation, for the next 10, 20 or 30 years. We are not talking about tomorrow because public transit in two years means tomorrow for us. Given the increase in population in Canadian cities and given the major impact that public transit can have on the mobility of workforce and goods, we feel it is necessary to have a national reading, even if each province has its own programs and even if public ground transportation falls under their jurisdictions.
Let’s talk about our vision of systems set up by a national government ensuring that workers and goods get from point A to point B. We may buy things online, but the goods are not going to be delivered through a wire. Goods will continue to pass through the highway system. Congestion has huge consequences when it comes to economic competitiveness. The national government already has a fund, consisting of the gas tax, which is redistributed via SOFIL.
So our forecasting is for 10, 20 and 30 years. What resources do we need for the development? It could be a public-private partnership, or it could be done through designated programs, together with the provinces and their programs.
We think that a country like Canada, compared to other OECD and G8 countries, should have a relatively structured plan for its vision of public ground transportation, an area we are experts in more so than other countries.