Mr. Speaker, one of the main problems we would have with the motion is it would be very difficult to build the kind of structure whereby the federal government created tax room for the provincial government to implement its own taxes.
As I said a few minutes ago, dedicated taxes have a tendency to go on for ever and ever. I do not know if the hon. member was in his place when I mentioned it, but Newfoundland had a cottage hospital tax shortly after Confederation. When I served in government back in the 1980s, the old cottage hospital tax was still in place and only was eliminated sometime in the 1980s. They have a tendency to go on for ever and ever.
To have dedicated taxes wherein the provincial government would take the taxes from gasoline would in no way guarantee that the federal government would not continue to raise taxes on gasoline over time. I do not think it is the way to go about it. Municipalities have to be better involved in the budgetary process at the federal level. The federal government needs to be a full partner in assisting municipalities in dealing with the costs associated with meeting the infrastructure needs.