Mr. Chair, there are no more “existing dollars”, because the Building Canada program is going to expire. On top of that, we noticed yesterday that $2 billion was cut from the existing program, so there really isn't a new pot of funds, so to speak, that we can talk about.
Even if we are saying that there is an existing pot of money—let's say, for argument's sake, $1 billion—should the government do a direct funding transfer? Should it be done through a grant program? If so, what criteria should one use? Should it be a tax-point transfer? There are different ways of dealing with existing funds, if you're even talking about existing funds—never mind that there aren't going to be any, because that program is now expiring—which is why we need to look at how the fund could be used.
At the committee level, we know that we cannot tell the minister how much money he should allocate. That's really up to the minister and the cabinet. We're not talking about more dollars; we are talking about how the dollars that we have—even though we don't know how many—are going to be divided up. Is it more gas tax transfer? Is it grants? Is it tax points?
To reduce red tape is important, but reducing red tape could also mean that we may not get value for the money spent. If we say we'll have more bidders, what's there to study? Yes, we need more bidders; that's pretty straightforward. If we say we need more private-sector involvement, okay, we know that, but what's there to study about that?
I think that in order to do the new program justice or to deal with the $123 billion infrastructure deficit that the cities and communities are facing, I think this committee should look at what kind of funding program should be in place. We're not talking about how many dollars, because that's really not up to this committee; we're talking about what kind of program. There's a real difference there.
I'm not putting before you the view that we need to spend x billions of dollars; that's not within the mandate of this committee. To use that as an excuse to not look at how we spend the money is, I think, a complete red herring, because the committee cannot deal with how much money we have; we know that.
We're not saying how many billions need to be in place, but if the money is available, we are saying how it should be spent and what kind of program it should be. To look at other countries and look at the best practices is, I think, the way to go.
I just want to be very clear so that other members know precisely what I am seeking by way of a study.