Finance committee  Thank you very much for your comments. Certainly, we do have a position on the electrification of fleets, and we watched with interest Mayor Holder's testimony here. I think London is a great example of the kinds of investment that cities are trying to gear up to make in terms of converting their diesel transit fleets towards electric.

Finance committee  Yes, absolutely. That's the position of FCM, and again, with the targets that I've just mentioned.

Finance committee  Yes, I appreciate that. We agree with you that a complementary program to the permanent transit fund would be the way to address this. As part of the program around fleet electrification, it's really important to consider as well both the upfront costs of bus purchases but also the other costs associated with charging stations and other core infrastructure that would be required to support this kind of system.

Finance committee  Rental preservation and construction, and stimulating the rental market, is from our perspective one of the key ways to address the housing affordability crisis on an ongoing basis. Certainly, we would see this as part of the work that a forum would tackle, but we do have specific recommendations as well.

Finance committee  Okay.

Finance committee  Yes. Certainly, from our perspective, there are clear reporting requirements with federal infrastructure programs that our members are subject to and follow accordingly, so it isn't our experience that there's a significant challenge with the reporting requirements in terms of providing data back to projects that are being implemented.

Finance committee  I appreciate your question very much. Obviously, as I've stated, housing affordability, including affordable and social housing and community housing like supportive and indigenous housing, is a top priority. So too is the spectrum of housing affordability issues playing out in our communities across the country.

Finance committee  Thank you very much for the question. I think it's certainly one that we anticipated, given the events over the last week. Off the top, it's important to acknowledge that ICIP, the investing in Canada plan, really did raise the bar, both in scale and scope, in terms of investing in infrastructure for communities across the country.

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Julian, for both those questions. I'll take them in order. To your question on the necessity of significant investment in infrastructure on an ongoing basis, certainly the communities you're referencing in your part of the country are not alone in looking to really advance transit system expansions, in continuing to grow their public transit systems and in doing a lot of work to that end, using, where they can, the gas tax fund transfer dollars and also the public transit fund dollars.

Finance committee  Thank you for your question. The government certainly did invest in FCM programming, particularly with a significant investment in the green municipal fund. That is for projects right across the country, and the green municipal fund does fund projects directly in Quebec as well.

Finance committee  That's correct. For the federal infrastructure programs, the money goes through the province to the municipalities for the green municipal fund. FCM is the intermediary, although in Quebec we have worked out an agreement with MAMH to ensure delivery.

Finance committee  Thank you very much for highlighting in your question and example the kind of direct investment that's been made in Quebec through the gas tax fund transfer. It's one of the most direct and reliable tools that municipalities have. Our experience with the gas tax fund, and I think most recently illustrated by your government's one-time doubling of the transfer in the last federal budget, is how quickly municipalities are then able to turn that around into real-time projects.

Finance committee  Thank you. I am Carole Saab, executive director of policy and public affairs at FCM. FCM is the national voice of local governments, with 2,000 members representing 90% of Canadians from coast to coast to coast. Joining me today is Daniel Rubinstein, the manager of policy and research at the FCM.

Finance committee  Thank you for your question. I think that's a scenario being faced not just in Ontario but other provinces as well, where intake processes haven't opened up for even the current federal infrastructure programs. It means nothing is happening. It means there is a stall, and that's very frustrating obviously for cities and communities across the country that are trying to make these investments in communities, and in Canadians in their communities.

Finance committee  Our current recommendation is that the current disaster adaptation fund be expanded in terms of the order of magnitude. Again, as with anything, the more long term and predictable funding is for municipalities, the easier it is to plan and use it.