Government Operations committee  There are a couple of points. In terms of one branch of an organization making a profit and another one not and trying to balance them out, I think the business community would accept that. In fact, I can see that probably in a lot of public services we accept slight losses, and

Government Operations committee  I won't be filing an expense report.

Government Operations committee  It's an excellent school. I'm not a recent graduate, but I'm a graduate.

Government Operations committee  I'd say they're neutral. I can't say I've heard a lot of complaints one way or the other. I would say it's neutral, but we have to be better than okay. I think that's the key consideration there.

Government Operations committee  Merci. I would say that would be a business model we might want to look at, separating residential from business. I would say so because, again, I would go back to the reference, and I mentioned this earlier, in the task force report to the idea that this is a sentimental busine

Government Operations committee  Are there ethical concerns about the government being in an area where the private sector is? As long as it's competitive, because traditionally—and I know we had serious issues with this in the provincial government—sometimes the province will go in and sometimes the federal gov

Government Operations committee  I know some of the areas. I'm just looking at a list here of things they've identified. One of the things they're talking about is going to franchising outlets. Generally speaking, I know some people who have a similar arrangement with the provincial government in terms of driver

Government Operations committee  Yes, I think so, just generally if it was cost-competitive and convenient, if Canada Post was offering a service that Purolator wasn't, or at different times than Purolator. I probably shouldn't use Purolator as an example all the time; there are other—

Government Operations committee  Yes, if it's filling a need in the marketplace that's not being filled, then certainly I think our members would use it.

Government Operations committee  From our perspective, we have a lot of start-up companies in the IT sector here. They have a high level of risk tolerance, probably the highest in Canada. So, sure, risk is part of doing business. If government agencies want to start taking risks, then I think a lot of people in

Government Operations committee  We're pretty well serviced in this area. As I said before, we have three cities: Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge, and four townships: Wellesley, Wilmot, Woolwich, the three Ws, and North Dumfries: three cities, four rural townships. Generally the service delivery here...and I

Government Operations committee  Sure, could be, under one condition. You're innovative. You're out front of the competition rather than being behind. We talk about the culture of innovation all the time in Waterloo region. As I said in answering the earlier question, you have to have that culture that we are al

Government Operations committee  That's kind of difficult for me, not being an actuary and not having a lot of familiarity with the mechanisms of pension funds. What I will say is there is a concern from the perspective of the business community. This is one area where I think a lot of businesses are going to l

Government Operations committee  That would be the response, I think, from the business community, the issue is the gap between public and private pensions.

Government Operations committee  Yes, I found that quite interesting. My initial response is—and I think you would hear this from the banking community—does the banking community need more competition, particularly from the government? I think there was reference to doing some type of partnership with Purolator.