The statistics I have acquired from the Library of Parliament indicate that revenues of local governments per capita have risen from $1,947 in 1985 to $3,881 in 2010. I'd be interested to ascertain the impact of inflation there, but we do know that revenues for municipalities have grown dramatically. They've grown because of the unprecedented contribution of the gas tax rebate to the municipalities and because of increases in municipal tax rates, which typically have outstripped inflation.
We also know that the federal contribution to overall infrastructure is now at a record high. So I'm just curious as to why the financial crunch. If revenues have exploded, how is it that municipalities are in such dire straits?