My first idea is quite clear. When it comes to big funding programs, they tend to have a specific focus, so the danger is that certain projects get overlooked. My preference would be to segment the programs a bit more and, above all, give everyone a chance. Sometimes just splitting a fund into two streams—one for large municipalities with more than 25,000 residents and one for smaller municipalities with fewer than 25,000 residents, say—allows smaller municipalities to participate.
In your question, you mentioned shoreline funding. Currently, the federal and provincial governments make the rules, but it's important to realize that the impact on residents is awful. Even before the property owner can begin to address their part of the shoreline, they're on the hook for $50,000 just to have a study done and the options laid out. Then they find out that, in order to comply with all the rules in place, it's going to cost them $500,000 to repair about 150 feet of shoreline. It's ridiculous. No one can afford that.
We've had some great initiatives in our region, particularly when it comes to speed limits on the water. Just that was a good step. Personally, I would take shoreline protection even further and create a new criminal offence around wakes and waves.