Thank you, Ms. Blais.
I will be brief. As I mentioned, we understand that the federal government cannot interfere in the municipalities' land-use planning, which comes under provincial jurisdiction.
However, we recommend that the federal government use its buying power in infrastructure. We are referring to subsidies allocated to provinces. I will share some recommendations found in the guide titled Pour un Québec libéré du pétrole en 2030 CHANGER DE DIRECTION Chantier Aménagement du territoire et transport des personnes. The guide was drafted by the organizations Vivre en ville and Équiterre to help Quebec free itself of its oil dependency by 2030. Its goal is to provide the province with recommendations on how to change the directions it's headed in by focusing on land-use planning and transportation.
We recommend that the government demand that municipalities identify priority investment areas according to pre-established criteria—such as existing infrastructure and expected growth—outside of which the government will not support investments. Funding programs should be eco-conditional—so there should be no development made on agricultural land, wetlands, or areas whose density is too low. No support should be provided for any new infrastructure or increase in road capacity, with the exception of existing infrastructure. We also recommend enhancing the funding for public transportation infrastructure.
Finally, we think it would be a good idea to give money to the FCM'S Green Municipal Fund, specifically for studies on financial assistance and other measures, while taking into account the conservation component—which is not the case currently—to improve land-use planning.
Thank you.