Madam Speaker, it is interesting that my dear friend is talking about all the wonderful things the Conservatives have done and are going to do, but talk is cheap and there is no doubt about it. We can stand here and make all kinds of commitments and promises, but it is when the dollar hits the road that it really counts.
I say to the hon. minister that I am very hopeful that some of the things that he was talking about are going to happen. Of the $33 billion that was previously part of the building Canada fund, somewhere around 4% of that ever actually got out there. Our motion is trying to make sure that there are ways the money will flow efficiently.
I would like to ask the minister a couple of questions. One of them is about the announcement made by the Liberals about the infrastructure in Toronto to do with regard to York University and the transit extension. After the Conservatives were elected, the previous minister of infrastructure made that announcement again and said that the Conservatives were committed to going forward with it. Today we are still talking about it coming out of these funds in the stimulus package when it should be coming out of the previous fund.
Second is the issue about matching funds. Whether I am talking about my city of Toronto or some of the other cities, the difficulty cities have with matching funds is they do not have the extra dollars. They have an aging infrastructure, whether it is community centres, or sewers and water mains, and the cities do not have the money unless they raise the property taxes. How is the government going to deal with the pressures for things that are critical and need to be done, but which the municipalities do not have the money to do?