Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to be standing here today speaking in support of the motion put forward by my hon. colleague from Parkdale—High Park regarding municipal infrastructure.
The general theme I would like to present to the House today deals with the situation of rural Canada and I would like to focus on that for an important reason.
The vulnerability of rural Canada right now is one that I would put in the category of high stakes. Some statistics show that over 80% of the people live primarily in urban settings and that rural areas are diminishing. As a result, many of the measures put forward in the economic stimulus package disfavour many of the over 200 rural communities that I represent. Members can well imagine how far apart we live and how spaced out we are as far as geographical regions are concerned.