Mr. Chair, talk will not fund budgets locally. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities recently stated that municipalities are facing a minimum $15 billion in near-term, non-recoverable losses due to COVID-19. Municipalities cannot run deficits. They do not have the ability to raise necessary revenues to meet the scale and scope of COVID disruption.
What is the Deputy Prime Minister saying to FCM, the mayors and the thousands of municipal councils that are facing the terrifying prospect of deep cuts to their critical local services, while facing soaring property taxes?