Actually, many of my friends, when we sit down and talk about this, wonder why we need provincial governments, to be honest with you. I know it sounds crazy, but they're all thinking that. The city of Mississauga has 740,000 people. It's the size of some provinces.
Something has to be more equitable. I like your idea that all three levels should sit down to sort this out. Our infrastructure in the city of Mississauga is incredibly well run. We're running an annual capital replacement deficit of $85 million a year. We're going to raise taxes 7.8% again this year and we're only able to put $9.75 million towards that $85 million. This means that every year on an ongoing basis we're running $74.25 million in the hole.
My concern and my responsibility, I believe—I'm a first-term councillor, so I'm a little idealistic—is to start talking about this and addressing it, because when my grandchildren want to go to a community centre or a swimming pool or want to drive along a road, I don't want them coming back to me when I'm sitting in my wheelchair saying, “Hey, Grandpa, what did you do?” because they're all closed.
What makes this country great is that we help each other. I think we all need to sit down and say that we have to work a little more closely together to make sure that everything's sustainable.