Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for Crowfoot for his question. If we reverse the whole system from a bottom up one rather than top down one, there is no doubt that we would have better government and more accountable government.
The biggest problem I have found as a fairly recent member of parliament is that Ottawa is too far removed from municipalities, from small town Canada, unless they are around this region. Other than through the newspaper and television most Canadians do not really understand what is happening here.
The problem is that we have had top down government for too long. We need to reverse that trend. I point my finger at the provincial governments as well. Even though they sing a good song at times, they play the same game as the federal system. I have witnessed that as a former mayor at the municipal level. When it comes to doing the right thing, walking the talk, it is a different matter. They sing the song “Yes, guys are doing a good job and we need to support you”, but when it comes to real bucks and real support it is a different matter.
They put in place regulations and rules that download. We have all heard the expression downloading to municipal governments. That happens federally and provincially. We need to reverse the trend. I reiterate that the municipalities need to be at the table to deal with matters that affect them and their purses directly.