Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank my colleagues for allowing me to speak. I'm happy to replace Mark as a GTA member. Transit is an issue for our caucus in the greater Toronto area, and we appreciate your discussion.
I have a couple of questions. I've done a paper that only my caucus has seen. It was a few years ago, and I will have to get it out again and shake the dust off it. Tell me if I am wrong or not, but I'm under the impression that since 1963 in the United States there has been a capital fund for transit. Maybe it doesn't exist any more, but it did exist for a while. States and municipalities could apply to the federal government for it--for capital purposes only; there was a little bit for operating.
I agree with you, sir, that not only is it a land mine, but I don't foresee the federal government getting into the operating side of transit systems. The capital side is one thing, but I'm not in favour of being a partial operator.
Could you tell me if that fund still exists? Do you know about it? I have seen it in writing, so it did exist at one time, but I don't know if it still exists. Or is this something you don't know about?