Agility and flexibility are very key to successful infrastructure. It's entirely appropriate for the government to have prescriptive programs that are trying to achieve certain things, but they're not going to solve all the problems for all the municipalities. There are a lot of municipalities in this country that do not need LRT. However, there is room for both types of programs, and to some degree there are both types, but the challenge we have is getting the right number of the right programs for the right needs. This is where infrastructure assessment and planning comes in.
If I can use a bit of a metaphor, if you're a homeowner and you want to put hardwood floors in your house, that's terrific. It increases the value, increases people's enjoyment, and it's a great investment. On the other hand, another homeowner might want these hardwood floors, but they have to repair their roof and that has to happen first. What happens if you are ready to repair your roof but all you can find are large-scale programs for hardwood flooring?
It's really the need to match the needs and requirements and goals of municipalities and other infrastructure owners with the available funding, and that's very difficult to do. It's improving because we have seen a lot of effort into asset management planning, and that's key. If we can roll these up into a national infrastructure assessment, I know there's a lot to be written on that yet and I think it's going to be worth investing a lot of time and effort into getting it right, but it's really building the capacity of municipalities where they don't have it and listening to the ones that do.
The other piece I said I hoped we could come back to, if you'll indulge me, is that we have municipalities that are investing significantly in very good asset management plans, yet they have to come back and apply for funding, usually project by project, hoping there's a program available when they need to develop a certain type of asset. What if we were to give the option to municipalities or first nations, anyone with a plan, and say we will fund the implementation of your plan over the next several years, and as long as you follow the plan you do not have to come back to us for each new project? You don't have almost the trope of you getting money for pavement, so you pave your roads, and the next year you get money for sewers, so you rip up the pavement to put in your sewers.
If we can give a lot of latitude to municipalities to follow their plans, it will help us map out the project pipeline; it will make sure all these infrastructures mesh together, and it will help give a good forecast for the types of programs we need and the scale of programs we need.
I hope that answered your question.