Transport committee  I think there is a challenge on the part of some provinces and some municipalities to bring forward new incremental funding for infrastructure. The need continues to be relatively large. Many provinces today are running deficits, and many municipalities are also challenged. So on

Transport committee  Public transit, as we mentioned, is eligible under all our infrastructure programs--the gas tax, communities component, the major infrastructure stimulus--and all those programs are subject to both audits and evaluations. All the audits and evaluations that have come forward have

Transport committee  Rail in the context of public transit or rail as a...?

Transport committee  Yes, we're using rail. Rail tends to be used again in regional transit. So you have Metrolinx, which provides GOTransit service in Toronto, which is run over rail lines. Again, in Quebec there's heavy usage of rail lines for public transit, and it's less so in Vancouver. In Can

Transport committee  It's not different terms and conditions, but different protocols. In the agreement that we signed between the Government of Canada and the Government of Quebec, the way that Building Canada, or Chantiers Canada, works in Quebec is that the province must propose things to the fede

Transport committee  The broader I think was around.... I hesitate to say.

Transport committee  Yes, I think it was around 6,000 in total.

Transport committee  Rail is the word....

Transport committee  Yes, we do discuss it on occasion.

Transport committee  I am not directly in charge of that area, however.

Transport committee  Exactly. That's the point, that in different communities.... Like one bus in Parry Sound is a very big deal; one bus in Ottawa is not that big a deal. That's why we tend to leave these decisions at the local level.

Transport committee  It's a good question. It's something that I think would warrant discussion among the committee. There are different criteria or triggers that the federal government could institute, if that's what it wishes. For instance, you could set a minimum farebox recovery rate for any pr

Transport committee  No, we audit the municipalities, so we know what the money went to, but we only know after the fact. A lot of times something will be done and built before we knew that it was federal gas tax money.

Transport committee  As you know, during the economic action plan the government tremendously increased the speed at which projects were approved, not only from an administrative perspective, but also from a regulatory perspective, including changes to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. Thos

Transport committee  I'm sorry, but I'm not aware if that specific fund is still in operation. I can tell you that in the last stimulus round, when President Obama announced his stimulus package, transit was a major component.