Thank you very much for being here, Minister.
Thank you also to your public servants, who run a lean and results-driven department. Special recognition, of course, goes to your outgoing deputy, Yaprak Baltacioglu, who did an excellent job. And to your incoming DM, Mr. Lévesque, welcome.
Our goal is to get results, and the main criticism from the opposition seems to be, Minister, that you're not expensive enough. I think Canadians would agree that their goal is to see infrastructure in their communities, not higher taxes out of their wallets.
On that question, I look at the municipal revenues over the last decade, and since 2001 revenues for municipalities have grown by 68%, even though the combined rate of population growth and inflation has only been 30%. That is to say, municipal revenues have grown twice as fast over the last decade as has the need. Where is the money going? In large part it's going to employee compensation, which has grown by 62% over the same period—again, twice as fast as population growth and inflation combined.
How can we work to ensure that when we invest dollars in infrastructure, they achieve results for the taxpayers, who pick up the bill?