Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My colleague Mr. Crête raises an excellent question. I can tell him about an experience I had when I was a minister in the Quebec provincial government. I found myself facing an immovable obstacle in the person of the former Liberal leader, Mr. Dion, on the issue of the $326 million which represented Quebec's share in the area of climate change, if you recall. Ontario had received $550 million and Mr. McGuinty was very proud to explain the way in which he had obtained this amount. When Quebec asked for its share, you should have seen the conditions that the federal government suddenly wanted to impose on the province. Furthermore, it absolutely wanted to deal directly with municipalities. These being creatures of the Quebec parliament, however, it was out of the question that the federal government deal directly with them or choose the programs.
Of course, this would depend on the attitude of the province concerned. In fact, some of them would have no problem with it. All I can say is that Quebec legislation would continue to apply. The absolute ban on municipalities dealing with the federal government remains in place, and the Province of Quebec will take care of what happens within its borders. Could the federal government repair one of its own bridges? Yes, but within the limits of what they can do today.
In summary, we wish to amend clause 300 by replacing line 35. It currently reads as follows:
300. There may be paid out of the consolidated revenue fund, on the requisition of the Minister of Transport, in accordance with terms and conditions approved by the Treasury Board, a sum not exceeding $2 billion to provide funding for infrastructure projects primarily related to infrastructure rehabilitation.
The change would amend line 35 which would then read as follows:
300. On the requisition of the Minister of Transport, in accordance with terms and conditions approved by the Treasury Board, except those requiring contributions from other levels of government, a sum not exceeding $2 billion [...]
In summary, and in answer to my friend and colleague Mr. Crête, the intention of this amendment is quite simply to make it impossible for the federal government to make this expenditure conditional on matching contributions from the provinces or municipalities.
I would be so bold as to conclude by saying that the problem is, at the moment, that the federal government presumes to be able to spend the municipalities' and provinces' money. They are so certain of it that these funds are included in the figures that the minister provided us with yesterday, when he appeared before the committee. He boasted of the fact that the stimulus package represented more than 3% of GDP. It is this assumption that is arrogant and that goes against the federal compact. He is telling us that the provinces and the municipalities will spend these sums.
That is why we are removing those strings. The money should be divided among the provinces on a proportional basis for projects that will be determined.