Don't take my remarks about the reduction in emphasis on rural and small communities as a criticism. In fact, maybe it is a good thing. Our previous report from 2015 criticized the pre-2016 infrastructure projects as consisting of too many small projects. We did a review of that, and Nut Mountain, Saskatchewan, which is not too far from my hometown, received $250 or something like that.
To deal with the small community issue, I think there should be other mechanisms, as opposed to the very granular spending on particular projects. In particular, I think the gas tax fund is the appropriate mechanism for providing funding for infrastructure for smaller communities. There is somewhat of a bias towards gas tax funding for smaller communities in my own province of Alberta, because there's a basic $50,000 amount plus a per capita amount. I would say the province could even make the funds more biased towards smaller communities in that way. I think general transfers to the provinces, passing money on directly to the smaller communities, would be by far the best mechanism for dealing with that issue, as opposed to trying to identify lots of small projects in these communities.
Again, I come from a rural Saskatchewan background. Like a lot of proud Albertans, my roots are in Saskatchewan. My sister is a town administrator in Star City, Saskatchewan. I have a deep feeling for rural Saskatchewan and their problems, but I think the mechanism that has been used by the federal government is not really the appropriate one.