Transport committee  With this proviso: we don't think the federal government has any business taxing motor fuel. We also think it's inherently dishonest to levy GST or a harmonized sales tax on motor fuel that includes all these excise taxes. You're taxing a tax and that's kind of a banana republic thing to do.

Transport committee  There's nothing wrong with exchanging information. A dear friend of mine coordinates a committee of research scientists on technology matters under the auspices of the National Research Council. They have a gang Skype exchange on a regular basis--I think on a monthly basis--in which there are 20 or 30 research scientists from across the country discussing things on Skype.

Transport committee  No. We believe that transit and transportation systems should break even or make money, as Greyhound does, for example, and we don't see a federal government role in funding the operations of transportation-operating companies. With regard to capital and operations, if it's something in a federal area of responsibility, like food inspections or agricultural inspections, we want federal government employees working with the best equipment so they can do their jobs most effectively.

Transport committee  No, some of the other banks' research analysts were the top-rated ones, so their's was research I read.

Transport committee  I know that you're making the case for your bill, and it's impossible to argue against having a strategy or a plan, but our point is that the federal government has no useful place in this process. Gathering people in Ottawa to put together a transit strategy.... There are plenty of qualified people on the ground in Montreal, Toronto, Saskatoon, and Vancouver, and they need strategies--

Transport committee  No. No, we would strongly oppose that. We think the FCM's collective track record is just absolutely abysmal.

Transport committee  Yes.

Transport committee  We believe necessary infrastructure in the federal jurisdiction should be justified, debated, and examined on a project-by-project basis. We reject Keynesianism in all its forms. Generally speaking, we don't think the solution to a debt crisis is more debt. We were opposed to the last economic action plan on the whole--not to say that there wasn't good stuff in it.

Transport committee  Yes, and we also believe that the existence of these federal funds in some ways inhibits necessary transit and infrastructure developments, because provinces and cities honestly believe that if they wait long enough and scream loud enough, the federal government will ride to their rescue and throw money that has nothing to do with federal jurisdiction at local projects.

Transport committee  Sure. We support port developments, the St. Lawrence Seaway, Great Lakes transportation infrastructure, fighter jets, the things that are clearly within the... Northern development....

Transport committee  Yes.

Transport committee  I think it's very clear that for every penny or nickel of excise tax on motor fuel that the Government of Canada stopped collecting, the municipalities or provinces would start collecting it, in many cases, and they would apply that money to roads and transportation. So we think the most straightforward and efficient way is for the feds to abandon this field of taxation.

Transport committee  We don't think broad-brush federal guidelines lead to effective services. In the area of health care, we believe that the Canada Health Act has stymied innovation and has prevented provinces and local health authorities from innovating. In the areas of densification and downloading, we believe the biggest problem with transit and transportation is that the people who build roads provide them free of charge.

Transport committee  I'm saying that in order to achieve density, the real costs in driving huge distances have to be captured. We have gridlock in a place like Toronto because that massive system of freeways costs nobody anything to get on and to get off, except their time and their lives. We don't have road pricing, as it were, except on the 407.

Transport committee  Yes. I mean, roads have been a provincial responsibility since Confederation. The federal government taxing fuel is something newer. For the longest time, the federal government taxed fuel and didn't contribute to roads, and that caused a lot of resentment in urban areas and in provinces.