Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of Parliament.
I want to first of all identify some of the major issues that confront municipalities. We are another order of government, along with both provincial and federal. One of the key issues we are concerned about is the municipal fiscal imbalance. It is no longer a buzzword across the country, but rather it is a hard fact and a reality. Our FCM convention in June was devoted primarily to addressing this specific issue and the Prime Minister in his speech addressed the issue as well, recognizing that it is a very important issue that municipalities, as well as other orders of government--provincial and federal--must work together and identify their roles and responsibilities so that we can work together in order to make things work across the country.
Municipalities are today being asked to not plan for five years, but to plan for 10 and 20 years. We cannot do that unless we have long-term predictable funding. This is key to the survival of what we can or cannot do. We are an order of government that is being asked to do more. We're now being asked to go into areas that were unknown to us five to ten years ago. We cannot do that, considering the fact that we get less than 8¢ out of every tax dollar, whereas the provincial government gets 42¢ and the federal government gets 50¢.
Our only source of revenue is municipal taxes. They are not growth taxes, and as a result of that we find ourselves really strapped and we cannot do the things and provide the kinds of services that our residents are asking us to do. So we're urging the federal government to engage the provincial, territorial, and municipal governments in a review of the roles and responsibilities, and resources, of all the Canadian municipal governments.
The next topic is also extremely important to us, and that is the municipal rural infrastructure fund, MRIF. We've just completed our final dispersement of funds a couple of weeks ago, where we had $22 million and we had upwards of $500 million of applications. We cannot continue to upgrade our infrastructure based on those kinds of numbers. We received 238 applications requesting over $550 million of support.
We are very much appreciative of the federal government's 2006 budget commitment to increase MRIF by $2.2 billion over five years. However, there are no details forthcoming regarding this as to how or when the funding will in fact be allocated among the provinces. While this was a five-year program, we have dispersed our funds in three years, and much more is actually needed. Therefore, the AMM urges the federal government to move quickly to distribute new resources to the municipal rural infrastructure fund and ensure that long-term predictable infrastructure funding is available to all communities.
The prairie grain roads program is an excellent program that has now ended, and we are also asking the federal government to renew the prairie grain roads program to support grain transportation infrastructure in Manitoba. These are 50¢ dollars, and it was an excellent program, with many rural and municipal roads being upgraded. We feel that the work that has been done has alleviated a lot of the issues and concerns that were identified, and this program was one whereby that did happen. Neighbouring municipalities that identified trucking routes worked together in order to upgrade certain municipal roads, boundary roads, in order for this all to be completed so they can get their grain to market.
I have a couple of other things, quickly. There's the national water supply expansion program, and that is the PFRA, for the boil water orders across the country. This program, again, was an excellent one. We're asking for a commitment to that program.
The final one I want to bring to your attention is the recreation infrastructure program. We're asking for a tripartite infrastructure program for the repair, upgrading, and building of recreational facilities in Manitoba, and also in Canada. Recreation is important, and the wellness of our communities and our residents is based on that program being put in place.
Thank you.