Mr. Speaker, over the last number of weeks we have been meeting with groups that are being impacted by the throne speech and the economic update. One of the groups that the member talked about was the municipalities. I was a former municipal councillor and what we know is that trouble rolls downhill.
We are seeing, whatever it is called, the offloading, downloading or softloading to the municipalities. In my municipality we are looking at transportation as a critical element. For example, we have a rail line that runs through my community but there are not enough dollars to help smaller communities. People keep talking about infrastructure and investment in transportation. Our rural communities, which are not part of the big cities, simply do not have enough dollars to invest in the kind of transportation that is needed.
The rail line is a good example. It crosses different regional boundaries and provincial boundaries. When we are talking about roles and responsibilities, we need to listen to people like the Canadian Federation of Municipalities to ensure the people on the ground are included in decision making and in the allocation of funds in a meaningful kind of way.
The Canadian Federation of Students and the Canadian Federation of Municipalities are really important groups that should have some inclusion in the process when we are making decisions on how money is allocated.