Transport committee  No.

Transport committee  In the case of many infrastructure funding programs, all the funds have expired. We therefore currently have no long-term program, except the Gas Tax Fund, which is not dedicated funding, though a large part of it goes to public transit. We therefore need long-term, predictable and sustainable dedicated funding.

Transport committee  We look a lot at what is done in the United States, but they have a totally different system of government than we do. We have to be careful when we make comparisons. However, they have a marked advantage because of the Federal Transit Administration, which has a clear role and which also exerts a lot of pressure regarding policies to be passed.

Transport committee  Chris can correct me if I'm wrong, but the maintenance would be part of operational funding, to maintain it. For instance, in some places where you have a fleet that is really old or there can be safety issues, they will replace their fleet with new vehicles as well, fully accessible and greener.

Transport committee  We're really looking for a cocktail of measures. For instance, the gas tax is working well. There were some programs within the Building Canada fund that were good as well. In our previous pre-budget brief we submitted--and we're appearing later this week before the finance committee--we're asking for an extra cent from the excise tax to be dedicated to transit.

Transport committee  When we look at infrastructure needs, our assumption is for it to be equally shared among the federal, provincial, and municipal governments. For instance, in Montreal the AMT just got funding within the P3 fund for a new garage facility. This is something that is extremely interesting that we're looking at as well.

Transport committee  Capital funding.

Transport committee  An overall policy framework would be there, ideally, for a very long time. Now, if you go into a funding program in particular, then we can look at something like five to seven or up to ten years. For instance, when we do our infrastructure needs assessment, we look at the next five years.

Transport committee  No--for the record.

Transport committee  We know, for instance, that many transit systems have programs. OC Transpo and Winnipeg Transit offer a rebate to employers, and the employers have to match the rebate. The incentive for employers is that it reduces the amount of money they have to pay, because it really reduces their taxable expenditures.

Transport committee  Yes. I think the strategy in the NDP proposal is based mainly on what was proposed in 2007 by the FCM and CUTA as well. That was also endorsed by the Conservative government at the time. Lawrence Cannon, the minister at the time, said it was an idea to investigate. There were five elements: capital funding, R and D, accountability, land use, and tax incentives--the federal employer-provided tax benefit exempt from taxation.

Transport committee  You're right. You touched on the private sector. In Canada, the private sector is really involved in public transit. If you look at the suburbs of Calgary, for instance, you have private operators there. It's the same thing in Montreal avec les CIT. You have private operators there, as well.

Transport committee  Again, it really depends how you define it, what you include in the strategy.

Transport committee  It depends how you define a national transit strategy and what you would include in it. As I mentioned earlier, we're looking at about 30 components of what could constitute a policy framework, and we looked at all the G-8 countries. We also looked at New Zealand, Australia, and the Republic of Korea to see what's out there, what they're doing.

Transport committee  Thank you for your question. Going forward to 2040, the transit systems that are members of CUTA are already implementing many of these elements. For instance, one point of the vision is ensuring accessibility to as many Canadians as possible. We know already that if you look at the transit system in Whitehorse, for instance, you will see Whitehorse has a fleet that is 100% accessible, which is phenomenal for a transit system of that size.