The government can do whatever it wants. There was an attempt to do something like this during the build Canada plan. The Minister of Infrastructure at that time promised to do something and then decided not to, in the end. There was a process undertaken between Infrastructure Canada and ESDC, then HRSDC, to take a look at this, but some strong lobbying against it took place from the business community. The minister and the infrastructure department backed away.
It's all about will. If governments want to do this, they can, because they are the writers of cheques. A bill is helpful. It gets us on track for the future.