Mr. Speaker, western rural municipalities have been losing tax revenue because grain elevators and rail lines are being abandoned.
Their tax base is being further eroded by the federal government which refuses to fairly compensate rural municipalities for lost tax revenues when land is converted to Indian reserves.
How are the rural municipalities to survive if the government destroys their tax base without fair compensation? Does this government not understand that any obligations to native people are owed by all Canadians, not just by small groups of western farmers?