Finance committee  In terms of public-private investment, I'm actually a big supporter of that. You will find many supporters among the Large Urban Mayors' Caucus of Ontario. We had some concerns with mandatory P3 screens, but I believe that you're watching municipalities already implement a variet

Finance committee  Thank you very much for that question. It's very insightful. Yes, we would like to see the design costs, the upfront costs, included. There's a lot of focus on the word “shovel” because we all think about the construction aspect, but infrastructure, of course, has knock-on ben

Finance committee  It's a fair question. I don't have an answer for other provinces. My caucus is Ontario. I would tell you that the equity can be, I believe, designed through the type of funding that the CMHC provided in the eighties and nineties. The approach that saw the assistance, the per-do

Finance committee  Absolutely.

Finance committee  You are asking if the allocation to the municipalities should be larger? Yes, that's what we're suggesting.

Finance committee  We believe that the funding allocation within the gas tax.... Are you asking if we think you should raise the gas tax?

Finance committee  Thanks for that, Mr. Brassard. As to the construction season, we're tendering as we speak. I think tendering will begin in earnest in the next couple of months. Toronto just passed its initial vote on the budget yesterday. I think the loss of the construction season pushes you b

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and members of the committee. That's a nice segue from Mr. Laurin's testimony on infrastructure. I want to recognize and thank MP John Brassard, the member for Barrie-Innisfil, for being here today as well. Thank you for allowing me to speak to

Finance committee  Sure. In my opinion, the one-third, one-third, one-third model is the right way to go. I believe it is our responsibility, at all three levels of government, to address those kinds of challenges. I would praise the federal government for balancing the budget. I think that's hu

Finance committee  We've never run a deficit.

Finance committee  I would simply say that, as mayors, we're the ones who have to cope with the reality of the impacts of the severe weather. We now need a national strategy to do this.

Finance committee  No, it's not appropriate in all cases, but there are certain types of municipal infrastructure and energy infrastructure that are ripe, particularly for pension fund, long-term money investment. Transfer taxation is a major issue. I believe that with reform to some of the tax r

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  Thank you. I'd echo the comments of my colleague from Fredericton. One of the ironies of a rising economy is that it squeezes people out. What we're seeing in our cities, as mayors, are people who were never struggling with housing costs before who are struggling today. It may

Finance committee  It's our understanding that under the Building Canada fund, some of the national infrastructure projects could include energy infrastructure. I stand to be corrected if the government has clarified that.