Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Welcome, Minister.
In my new role here I'm really excited. It's a fascinating portfolio, with many challenges and issues.
But in terms of the infrastructure deadline of March 31, I cannot for the life of me understand why you don't simply grant a blanket extension of something like six months. It's not as if any economists anticipate a dramatic drop in the unemployment rate over the next 12 months. Right now we have a frenzy of overtime and bidding for materials, which raises the costs, which are then downloaded to the municipal taxpayer. It doesn't seem to make sense. Many towns are going to be late, through no fault of their own, sometimes because your government was late, as the Auditor General said, in granting approval; sometimes because of weather; and sometimes because of any number of reasons.
So what we have now is a situation in which towns cannot do their planning, where they risk higher taxes. Why don't you just do the simple, straightforward thing and grant a six-month extension for all municipalities?