Madam Chair, municipalities provide the essential services we rely on every day, like police, fire, paramedics. They provide equality-seeking services like housing, transit, community centres and senior care.
As our country fights the spread of COVID-19, municipalities face major shortfalls in financing these essential services. By law, they aren't allowed to run deficits and have had to lay off thousands of staff, and they contemplate deep service cuts to make ends meet.
Municipalities are also excellent incubators of economic growth, and reopening economies post-COVID in partnership with them is an opportunity for us to build back better.
At the federal level, we have provided $2.2 billion with the gas relief fund and continue to try to build consensus among provinces to partner with us on this path to recovery. I encourage our provincial leaders to take this opportunity to strengthen the vital building blocks of our country, our municipalities.
Thank you, Madam Chair.