Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to split my time with the member for St. John's South—Mount Pearl and to make a few comments on this issue.
I have to pick up on one of the things the Minister of Finance said about the gas tax money for the cities. I have to say that this is one of the most disappointing things that I can remember in public policy announcements in the last couple of years.
A little over two years ago I was in Winnipeg when the Federation of Canadian Municipalities held a meeting. The Prime Minister, who was the finance minister at the time, made an announcement about gas money for the cities. I thought it was a great idea because the municipalities could use more funding as they are underfunded and the provinces are underfunded. This was in the spring of 2003.
The spring became the summer, the summer became the fall and the government made another announcement that it would move toward giving gas tax money to the cities. However 2003 became 2004 and still no cheques were in the hands of the municipalities.
This then became part of the Liberal platform for the 2004 election. I thought we would wait to see what kind of progress would be made. The election of 2004 came and went, the summer became the fall and then we heard another announcement. My problem with all this is that we cannot eat announcements, which is all we seem to get.
I want to know where the cheques are. When will the cheques finally be put in the mail, or will this be an announcement for the next election? Let me guess.