Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Minister, earlier I talked about the fact that you are interfering in the management of cities. To give you a more fulsome demonstration of this, let me read you an excerpt from the Union des municipalités du Québec's response to the tabling of the last federal budget, published in an article entitled “Budget 2024–2025: an attack on municipal independence”:
Following the tabling of the federal budget 2024-25 by the Minister of Finance of Canada, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, the Union des municipalités du Québec, or UMQ, denounced a number of attacks on municipal independence, particularly in land use planning and taxation. The Union reiterates its major concern about the urgent need to renew the Gas Tax and Quebec Contribution Program (TECQ), mainly funded by the federal government, which expired on December 31. “We deplore the fact that a number of measures introduced by the federal government encroach on municipal jurisdiction. When it comes to transportation, housing and infrastructure, adding conditions slows down the deployment of measures and does not take local realities into account. For example, waiting to renew the TECQ hinders the completion of infrastructure projects. It is high time for the federal government to stop adding new conditions and to come to an agreement with the Government of Quebec,” stated Martin Damphousse, UMQ president and mayor of Varennes.
Do you think it's a good idea to start a war with Quebec municipalities a year before the federal election?