Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question. It asks, how one would ensure that rural areas, and maybe areas where there is not much population but in need of roads into those areas, would be funded?
None of this would stop the provinces from continuing to do that job. We are not suggesting for a moment that the provinces would step out of their role and responsibility for providing roads into these remote communities. That is something they do already. What we are arguing is that there needs to be more money coming in to supplement that. The best level of government to determine what the concerns and priorities are is the municipal level of government.
In the little community I live in, Brooks, Alberta, I have complete confidence in the county, in our reeve, and our mayor and his council to make those kinds of decisions. They hear from people everyday about the potholes, stop signs and what is wrong. I say, let them make those determinations. However, they need the money in order to go ahead and actually bring about some action in accordance with the priorities they have heard from their people.