Mr. Speaker, we should note that the building Canada plan in 2007 was a $33 billion plan over a seven-year period, as he mentioned, until 2014. This is a $53 billion plan. It is $70 billion, if we include the infrastructure spending on reserve and other types of infrastructure initiatives. This stable funding was very much welcomed by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. It is welcomed by the municipalities in my community.
Obviously the long-term permanency and indexing of the gas tax fund ensures that municipalities can borrow against it going into the future. There is the community component of that. As I mentioned, we have announced a P3 Canada project in Edmonton within the last two weeks with respect to the LRT development in southeast Edmonton. These are all massive investments over the long term that municipalities can count on in the future.
If the fiscal situation improves, obviously future governments can look at increases. However, this is very reasonable and within the budgetary plan in terms of moving toward a balanced budget over the medium term. It is long-term sustainable investment in infrastructure, and that is why municipalities across this country have welcomed this budget.