Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his speech. I want to reiterate to his colleague from the reform party who spoke previously that not just the federal government plays politics with gas taxes.
The provincial government of New Brunswick played a big political game a few years ago with the gas tax when it cancelled the road tolls and said it simply could not allow the road tolls on the Trans-Canada because it would suck $15 million a year out of New Brunswick taxpayers. So what did it do instead? It applied a 2¢ a litre gas tax for all New Brunswickers. Bernard Lord was complaining that the province could not take $15 million out of the economy but it sure could take $30 million out of the economy.
My question for the member is quite clear. With the gas taxes going to municipalities, if that is the direction the federal government will go, how do we ensure that the more rural areas of the provinces, especially those areas in the northern parts of the provinces, get adequate funding for their roads and for future development as well? How would he envision that?