Thank you for your question, honourable colleague. It's an important question, and it takes me back. I've spent more time as a town councillor than as an elected official to other orders of government.
You of course get extremely frustrated when you're sitting at the town council level and you realize that your concerns are not listened to, necessarily, and that you have problems putting forward schemes, whether they deal with urban transit or waterways or sewage systems.
A few years ago I petitioned the FCM very strongly, as did many other elected officials, and of course that organization petitioned the government. And I was very pleased to see the openness the Government of Canada afforded municipalities. I think that on a basis of partnership, on a basis of cooperation, we can continue to move forward.
I think that all levels of government are very cognizant of that approach. So I, for one, and I repeat what I said before in French, do not intend to step on anybody's foot to make sure that we are committed and are able to move forward on sustainable communities and are able to get that money to our infrastructure projects, which matter mostly at the local level, yes, but also at the other levels. I do not envisage in any way, shape, or form any problems from that perspective.
My opening remarks do not exclude any possibility of having open and frank discussions with everybody. But of course at the end of the day, the provinces, which have their responsibilities and their jurisdictions, must be able to play out their roles.
You know as well as I do, colleague, that in some provinces, for instance, it is more important for the provincial government to be able to do it. In other provinces, clearly, there's been another way of doing things. For instance, the City of Toronto deals directly with the Government of Canada, and there doesn't seem to be any problem. The Government of Ontario accepts that fully. In other provinces, funds are administered by the provincial associations, by regrouped municipalities. I think particularly of Ontario, also, and I think B.C. is similar to that. Alberta, as I mentioned before, would be in line with that kind of thinking.
Canada is diverse. Canada's way of doing things is a little different, and I am certainly going to respect that.