It's certainly a challenge from a municipal perspective. I'll give you an example that illustrates the current insufficient revenue tools that municipalities have.
In the last three years, coming out of the pandemic, municipal revenue—which is largely property tax—has been flat or, when accounting for inflation, has even been declining. Meanwhile, as we came out of lockdowns and out of the pandemic, provincial sales tax and income tax and federal sales tax and income tax have increased substantially.
Municipalities don't have sources of revenue that grow with the economy, and they don't have sources of revenue that grow with population. This is a challenge when we need to increase housing supply in the country to restore housing affordability. It's certainly a challenge when we look at an issue like climate change, given that municipalities own the majority of public infrastructure.
I mentioned in my opening remarks that this is one example of many that shines a light on the inadequacy of the current fiscal framework. The costs are massive. It's not going to be easy. There may be a role for private finance when it comes to investing in infrastructure, given the scale of the challenge, but it's going to require a long-term investment plan with some new creative ways of funding it.