Transport committee  I think it's positive. It's a great start, but it's not going to solve this problem.

Transport committee  Possibly. I think they should take place in the context of your all-party committee, and you should in fact drill down in terms of recommending a strategy that all parties buy into, frankly, and that serves the needs of Canadians.

Transport committee  The federal government has come to the table through its infrastructure program and the gas tax, and that's more than welcome, but as I've tried to say here, in terms of the magnitude of the need, of what we have to do across the country, we need a lot more. I think the work of your committee is going to be very important in terms of pursuing some of those other possible approaches and tools in conjunction with the provinces, the municipalities, and the people of the country.

Transport committee  I know you've had a lot of discussions, and there are probably reports that would go to the ceiling.

Transport committee  I'm sure. What I would love to see within the term of this Parliament is action. I don't want you to be misled when I say we should have discussions and forums. I think because this is another kick at the can, so to speak, and we have different players as a result of the provincial elections that are taking place across the country—and who knows what will happen—and we have new municipality mayors and all the rest of it, we need to be on the same page.

Transport committee  Well, obviously, the U.S. first, because it's closest to us in terms of what you see in cities like San Francisco and in the Los Angeles example I mentioned, which is the car capital of the world, yet they're building subways galore and the citizens have voted in favour of a sales tax increase to fund the transit there.

Transport committee  It's a great question. I don't think so, because the municipalities, as you know, have to balance budgets by law. They cannot run deficits, so they have to deal with their own bed they lie in. Some municipalities are more courageous than others in terms of the financial approaches they follow.

Transport committee  I think the best way I can answer that is to say that frankly what's needed is a dedicated, dependable, ongoing source of funding.

Transport committee  That's a question probably only you can answer, with the greatest of respect, because I simply don't know. If you're looking at the transit file, my main point is that it doesn't do much good to provide any kind of a major program over a four- or five-year period and have it end, because you can't build these systems.

Transport committee  Again, with respect to electrification, a lot of people are familiar with what has gone on in the rest of the world. As you well know, the Metrolinx board voted in favour of electrifying the entire GO system. It should have happened a long time ago. It should happen much sooner than later.

Transport committee  There is great potential for the federal government through this committee work to seriously explore that and to perhaps be a leading advocate for electrification. That is the future. That's what the rest of the world has already done.

Transport committee  Of course, you could, and I hope you do.

Transport committee  Well, the only thing that has changed is that the problems have gotten a lot worse, to be very honest. The fact is we are adding 100,000 people a year to the greater Toronto area. Vancouver is going to add a million people over the next 15 years. In different proportions across the country, this problem is not going away.

Transport committee  Well, primarily, but I'll tell you that even now, that's not the case. The Province of Ontario has a big voice in decisions as they affect the greater Toronto area through the Metrolinx organization.

Transport committee  Let me be totally clear. What I'm saying is that gas will never get cheaper than it is today. That's the first principle. Whether it rises to the level it is in the Netherlands or to the level it is in France or the U.K., I don't know. But the fact is, it's going to get more expensive.