Mr. Speaker, the former finance minister and father of fiscal imbalance has made huge cuts to the federal transfer payments to Quebec, and the municipalities are having serious financial difficulties. The Quebec minister of municipal affairs is, moreover, demanding that Ottawa help them, but in a way that respects Quebec's jurisdiction.
Since the money is in Ottawa, if the federal government wants to really help municipalities, why does it not just hand over its surplus funds directly to the Government of Quebec, which has jurisdiction over municipalities?