Madam Speaker, first of all, the B.C. government has identified up to $3.5 billion, and a 50% share would be $1.7 billion and some. The amount that we have advocated for some period of time, the 5¢ per litre going back to the provincial government from the gas tax, has been a recommendation of ours for about three years.
People ask if I enjoy being in opposition and I say that yes, there are little moments of joy, but it is frustrating. The few moments of joy are when the federal government sees our good ideas and seizes them with its hands, grabs them and claims them for its own. In the process Canadians somewhere are benefited by our ideas, so we were pleased to see again a small step forward on the part of the federal government toward our proposal in terms of giving some of those gas tax dollars back to the provinces from whence they came.
That would be the first area of draw which would exceed, with great capacity, the amount that has been projected over 10 years by the federal Liberals of $590 million. It would be in excess of that, so not only will we be in excess of the proposed $590 million over 10 years but we have also gone further.
We have identified areas of significant waste within government, helped by the Auditor General. The last figure, before election time, that we put out to independent auditors was some $6 billion in poorly managed or wasteful areas, identified by the Auditor General, not by ourselves. Obviously, B.C. would not be able to claim that entire $6 billion, but a portion from that would go to the enhanced infrastructure needs.
The final area would be related to the tax invigoration that comes when taxes are lowered, especially on small and medium sized business, on other business and on hard working people. When those taxes are lowered, the economy is reinvigorated and more revenue is brought in, which that side of the House has not contemplated, and from that share of increased revenue, some portion of that would also go to these infrastructure projects.