Mr. Speaker, I would like to put a question to my Conservative colleague, particularly as he was the mayor of a municipality before becoming a federal MP.
My riding is fairly rural, apart from one urban centre. There are eight mayors of villages and small municipalities with populations of 2,000 to 5,000. For the mayors of small municipalities, infrastructure represents a major challenge. The new building Canada plan has been announced, but unfortunately there is no new money. That is the problem raised by the mayors in my riding.
For example, they do not have the money to update their waste water treatment systems, so they continue to discharge waste water into the Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park, which is managed jointly by the federal and provincial governments. That is not very pleasant.
Since my Conservative colleague was once a mayor, will he be putting pressure on his colleagues to ensure that municipalities across Canada can get new money? That is what would do the most good for our smaller municipalities, and ensure that they can grow, hold on to their young people and diversify their economy.