Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It's a pleasure to welcome so many witnesses from the municipal side. As a former mayor of two different towns, and having served as the president of Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador and as an FCM board member, I recall many of the debates around infrastructure funding and the gas tax fund and others. I want to ask my questions about those two particular issues.
Our government knows that during the pandemic, municipalities big and small have been on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19. To acknowledge this, our government front-ended last year's gas tax fund payment and will be doubling the payment for this year.
Mr. Smith, and maybe Mr. Demers, can you speak to the importance of this funding for municipalities in terms of providing flexibility to address the needs of your communities? Perhaps Mr. Smith can go first and then Mr. Demers.