Mr. Speaker, I acknowledge the hon. member's credentials from municipal politics, from the parish councils. I too have a background.
Having said that, we must realize that the member's experience would indicate the reason this government brought in the infrastructure program was that the municipalities requested it. For some 10 years the municipalities requested that the federal government cost share with the provincial governments and the municipal governments in infrastructure development.
If the municipalities are so jealous or so negligent as to not want to share, I am sure that the other provinces would gladly accept their allotment of money for infrastucture programs. We have found in all of the provinces that the requests far outnumber the ability to begin infrastructure. I would remind the member as well that this is not short term work, it is long term infrastructure that every town, every municipality in Canada requires to sustain economic development.