Transport committee  Let's start with....

Transport committee  Yes, it's a big question, but let's start with the reality that municipalities are really strapped for cash. If you look at the tax dollars collected in this country by different orders of government, the municipalities collect eight cents out of that tax pie, and that is simply

Transport committee  The permanent gas tax is an enormously important financial support for municipalities in this country. It is not indexed, so as inflation carries on into the future the value of that gas tax will diminish. Secondly, the gas tax, while invaluable and predictable, which is a reall

Transport committee  Federal leadership in urban transit is critical. Any time we have a national challenge that challenges us as a country socially, environmentally, or economically, we think there's a really important role to play for the federal government. The federal government and its agencies

Transport committee  I can't give you an order of magnitude in terms of a figure. What I can say is that in the particular case of urban transit, exactly because of the scenario you're painting, dedicated transit funding is essential. Municipalities simply can't live on the gas tax and the property t

Transport committee  We believe it is essential to have a fund for public transit within the context of overall infrastructure issues. Municipalities have different challenges. Some of those challenges have to do with public transit, and others have to do with infrastructure that is not related to p

Transport committee  First of all, despite what is in the Constitution, the government has for several years decided to work with the municipalities and it is going very well. But it does not operate outside the relationship with the provinces and territories. There is a link between the federal go

Transport committee  I think that the strategy is not necessarily the most important aspect; the principles are. If we have strong global principles, we can get strong local results. So that means that we base the strategy on principles, and long-term planning and funding. That is an important princi

Transport committee  The third principle is that there must be some flexibility so that we can have national principles and a national perspective, but also the flexibility that lets us have different solutions for Toronto and Vancouver. We can try to obtain results at the local level, but within the

Transport committee  I can't give you a percentage; I don't have that figure. But in a general sense, procurement at the municipal level is about $100 million per year.

Transport committee  I don't know. I don't have the answer to that question.

Transport committee  I think we can probably get it, yes.

Transport committee  I don't know. We'll get that for you as well.

Transport committee  Spending of local governments would have increased, I would imagine, as the costs increase for delivering of services, the upgrading or maintenance of infrastructure, and the downloading of responsibilities that have meant that municipalities have had to put more resources into t

Transport committee  I don't have the figures you have. I would also question the percentage increase in revenues of the federal and provincial governments and how those increases are seen in proportion to the increase in the municipal revenues. I believe we could probably get that figure as well, bu