First, on rural expansion, the interest is coming from many members like you. Many of your colleagues on the government backbenches have come to us with a specific request in response to demands from constituents, so it's responding to a reality on the ground. People are saying, “Wait a second, there's cheaper energy over there. Why can't I get access to it?” The point of the strategy is to be able to respond to that.
There are many precedents for the expansion of energy infrastructure into rural areas by government, on the electric side and on the gas side, and we're talking about a similar expansion. This would be direct assistance to underwrite part of the cost of the infrastructure. Other portions of the cost would be picked up by the utilities and ultimately by the ratepayers themselves. It's an assistance program. Again, there are many precedents for it. We would simply be building on past precedents, both federal and provincial.
I think the response of the government should be to open the doors to those areas that are looking for this kind of assistance and they will come forward. We have a long list of communities right now that have approached our member companies. We've encouraged those communities to talk to provincial governments and to the federal government. We're happy to do that directly. There are lots of precedents we can cite to show you how this can be done.
On the vehicle question, it kind of goes back to a discussion I had with the previous Minister of Natural Resources, Minister Carr, with respect to broader energy issues. It touches on some of the points Sergio was making about the idea of an energy strategy. We're a little concerned about some of the conversation, because it seems to be turning towards proposing technology favourites. I asked Minister Carr if his goal was to reduce emissions or to design what the energy system should look like. We think that of the two, it should be to reduce emissions and then say to industry, “All right, go and be creative.”
With respect to vehicles, we think there are opportunities for electric vehicles more likely in highly dense urban areas, where it's relatively cost-effective to build the infrastructure. For natural gas vehicles, there would be other portions of the transportation market better suited: freight vehicles, rail, marine, etc. Much of this is happening now. We think it can be expanded. We think we can look at the idea of a national transportation energy grid whereby we can be extending the use of natural gas.
Essentially, that's what happened in countries like Argentina, where there was extensive support for the expansion of that infrastructure. It happened to be the fuel that was most available to them for a variety of reasons.