Mr. Speaker, I enjoyed listening to the member for Thunder Bay—Rainy River. I have known the member for many years. He has a long history in public life, having served as the mayor of Thunder Bay and as the president of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.
The question I would like to ask the member is on an issue that I raised earlier today. It is the notion of the fiscal imbalance. I raised the point that we have three levels of government in Canada; federal, provincial and municipal. I would argue that there is a fiscal imbalance in terms of the taxing powers compared to the spending responsibilities.
Certainly, when the federal government cut its transfers to the provinces in the mid-1990s, when that member was in municipal government, many would argue that caused the provinces to pass that through to municipalities and the municipalities bore the brunt of it.
What are the member's thoughts on this notion. If the federal government did more to help the provincial governments, would that not allow the provincial governments some more flexibility to pass through some of that generosity to the municipalities?