Thank you for the question.
I want to say that we are very supportive, obviously, of the platform projects that you guys have put through with increasing infrastructure funding. The current federal Minister of Infrastructure is a former vice-president of AUMA, so obviously we have a great relationship. We've talked a lot about some of the challenges that we face.
The biggest one, I believe, is the fact that it took quite a while to get coordination with the province with regard to getting an agreement signed so that we're able to get the money out this year. Our biggest concern was the timing. We want to make sure that the projects are funded as quickly as possible so that we don't miss construction season.
Also the process is very open. We really do believe that the application-based process is flawed, that it causes a lot more money to be spent on administrative purposes and a lot more time wasted when you should be getting to these projects quickly. We would like to see a movement to a process more like the federal gas tax program model, where the money flows directly to municipalities, rather than through the province, so that we're able to make decisions at the local level. That being said, we're looking forward to phase two.
Our biggest concern is that the water projects were funded at 40% provincial allocations, but will that happen as well with the affordable housing and the social infrastructure funds? Those are of great need in the province. We are finding a lot of municipalities have put forward their water projects in further years at the cost of affordable housing, recreation, and those types of projects. Those are where the issues are now. We would like to see both levels of government really start to respect the fact that local decision-making needs to happen and that different municipalities have different needs.
We're very pleased with what's happening. The openness has been a great change.