Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to answer the question the hon. member for Lévis—Bellechasse asked me. As a former mayor of a municipality, he has lived through the whole tragedy of the federal cuts at the provincial level.
To address directly the question about the infrastructure program, there may well be such a program that would please every municipality, provided that all are eligible. The problem with Liberal members is that, once again, they want to play politics. It would be pretty simple to establish a stable, long-lasting program to ensure that the problems of each municipality are resolved.
Take for example the most recent program, in 2000. During the six weeks following the federal announcement of the program, 2,200 applications were made in Quebec alone, while there was enough funding for only 400. The same agreement provided that Quebec was in charge. It submitted projects which were selected on the basis of criteria negotiated by the two unions of municipalities in Quebec, with the participation of the federal government. Add a touch of politics, and you know what happened. When negative responses started to come in, the federal Liberal members told the mayors or councillors that, had they been the ones administering the program, the municipalities would have received the funding. That is what they said. They never dared to admit that the real problem was that there was not enough funding in the program.
What is required is a stable, ongoing program, not just for one year, like in 2000, but every year, to ensure that each community ultimately sees its project realized.
To do this will require hard work. My colleague from Lévis—Bellechasse is assigned to this portfolio with me. We will sit together on the committee, if ever a committee is formed. We have a good Minister of State (Infrastructure and Communities), but there is no committee. We do not know what committee will take this portfolio. Once again, it is Liberal logic: create a shiny new deal for the municipalities, but without a department to manage it and with no indication where we are going either.
However it works out, one thing is certain. We will be standing up for every community in Quebec, small, medium or large. We want Quebeckers to have an infrastructure program for all communities in Quebec.