Mr. Speaker, I think this is an opportune time for this country to re-evaluate the relationship between the three levels of government. The hon. member may know or may not know that there are other countries in the world which only have two levels of government and do not have three levels such as this country.
The reality of history is that municipal governments existed long before the federal system came into being, way before confederation came about. Even though the provinces always elaborate and keep saying the municipal governments are the creatures of the provinces, they have taken a very paternalistic approach to the relationship between provinces and municipalities, it is high time we have a little more equality among all three levels.