Mr. Speaker, my Liberal colleague talked about strategy and long-term investment, but that is really strange. Let us not forget that it was under the Liberal government that the cycle of investment in infrastructure declined during the 1990s, which has created an infrastructure gap, and the Conservatives have continued that infrastructure gap.
We need long-term funding for infrastructure, especially for small and rural communities that do not have the luxury of having engineers at the ready, because it takes them a little longer. We have to look at a plan that not only takes us up to the next election but goes longer.
Let us consider places like Chapleau, where the water pipes are deteriorating so badly that the water is coloured and there is sediment present when people open their taps. We can also consider Little Current where, because of the government's inaction with respect to the low water levels in the Great Lakes, the water level is dropping so much that people are having trouble with their pipes in the lake and cannot get water or their lines are freezing or they have to put out another 100 feet of pipe. The township of Little Current could use some of that money to provide much-needed water to those communities. Unfortunately, it does not have the money.
Maybe my colleague could speak about the importance of this to small rural communities, especially those in northern Ontario.