Mr. Speaker, it is certainly difficult to take that party's statements at face value when its own finance critic has said that the public is perhaps “mistaken about the degree to which we are supportive of some of this spending”.
The Leader of the Opposition said in 2003 that the federal government should not have a new deal with cities and communities. In 2004, his party campaigned on scrapping three out of the four infrastructure programs. In 2005, those members voted at their party congress against sharing the gas tax. These are not the words and actions of a party that is truly supportive of cities and communities.