Thank you, Minister McLeod. Mr. Neudorf.

I appreciate that. There are some jurisdictions, at least three provinces that we know of, that are going forward without waiting for the federal government. So there is the opportunity to also learn from our fellow jurisdictions. I am wondering what our input has been -- perhaps this is the Minister’s question -- at the federal level as referenced by Mr. Neudorf on fuel efficiency of vehicles. Thank you.

Once again, Mr. Chair, I am wondering if the Minister feels that his would be a good stance to take, that our input should be to encourage the federal government to adopt progressive fuel emission standards, such as three of the jurisdictions in Canada, in line with the California standards that I suspect is working its way through the North American system fairly rapidly now with Mr. Obama at the helm. But we

could be ahead of the game by considering that now. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I haven’t been in this position long enough to attend the national conference with any of my federal colleagues. I would certainly be looking at the situation as the Member has raised to see what our position would be. Right now, we intend to work with the federal government on establishing some of the guidelines and be more focussed as we move forward towards the next conference. Thank you.

That was in the old idea category, of course. That’s an old idea that’s slow to be implemented. Moving onto the new ideas referenced here on page 36, I am wondering, is there a capacity and perhaps a mechanism in the department for looking to what the new future might hold in terms of these sorts of things. This is an area that is going to be moving very quickly now as we come up against the reality of global climate change and what it really means to everybody and with this Department of Transportation, what it really means to transportation and the possible substantive move to electric vehicles and so on. Is there a mechanism within the department that is a bit forward looking, if you will, out on a limb in terms of the ideas that might fairly quickly help us with a bit of a head’s up with implementation of those sorts of things? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Next on my list is Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have a couple of questions related to this section. The first one relates to cell phone use by drivers operating vehicles. We discussed it a bit when we reviewed business plans in November and I just wondered whether or not the department has given any consideration to legislation that would prohibit the use of cell phones while the vehicle is in operation. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister McLeod.

Mr. Minister, this issue of distracted driving has been brought forward by a number of people and we have looked at the situation and certainly still have been considering what would all be involved if we were to move forward. Does that include eating? Does that include other things along with cell phones? And we haven’t been able to completely be convinced that we are in a position where we would be able to have charges made. That is something that we need to consider and at this point we are just going to be in a holding position to wait until we have more information to move forward.

Thanks for that answer. I appreciate that. It’s a reasonably complex issue. At one point when we were into this discussion and I believe there was a press release that occurred at some point in time between November and now...There is an awareness campaign I think that the department is running. I just wondered if I could get a little bit of an explanation or an elaboration on what sort of an awareness campaign is being run in relation to distracted drivers. Thank you.

There is already current legislation in place where a person using a cell phone can be charged. That’s driving without due care and attention. We are looking at what’s happening in other jurisdictions. Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Quebec are the three jurisdictions that have banned cell phones. We have the smart driving program, Drive Alive, I’m sorry, that encourages people to not drive while they are distracted and that program is ongoing. Thank you.

Thank you for that. I do have a question with regard to the work that is being done or that I believe is going to be done relative to our licence plates. I wonder when the Minister might advise when that might come back to committee for discussion again. Thank you.

We had responded to an earlier question by stating that the new licence plate would be ready for review or for committee to look at probably in a month or two. Thank you.

Thank for the answer. My apologies for not having heard the answer previously. That’s all. Thanks.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. I’ve got nobody else on my list. We are on page 11-37, activity summary, road licensing and safety, operations expenditure summary, $3.509 million. Agreed?

Moving along to page 11-38, activity summary, road licensing and safety, active positions. Agreed?

Moving along to the next page, which his 11-40, which is an information item, work performed on behalf of others. Any questions?