Probably not, but a national strategy could have a more positive impact. We should not use government money to create jobs for the sake of it. But if we're talking about renewing infrastructure, the statistics that I gave you are that over the last ten years, investment in capital works in the municipal sector has created 140,000 person-years of work. That's important--road work, all kinds of waste water treatment plant work.
I gave you statistics that show that if we invested in public transit and inter-city rail projects, we could do much better than investing in simply road and road maintenance. We need to maintain roads and we need road maintenance, but we can't be a society that's imprisoned by our infatuation with the automobile.
When I speak about other G-8 countries, they have not.... Major cities in Europe, where most of you have travelled, and certainly in Hong Kong.... The statistics I heard in Hong Kong were that less than 10% of the population transport themselves in privately owned automobiles. Ninety percent of the population transport themselves through public transit systems.
We're not like them or like European cities; we're much more American. We have become imprisoned with building beltways and roadways. We need those things, but we also need investment in public transit systems that can more efficiently move people to and from work and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and actually create meaningful employment for thousands of unemployed construction workers. Many of the stimulus measures from the Building Canada fund.... The last delegation was asked a number of questions. Many of those projects are done; they've been committed to. We need a new federal-provincial-municipal boost toward fixing infrastructure, including public transit.