Mr. Speaker, so much of our infrastructure across the country is the responsibility of the federal government, yet there is a real lack of strategy and clear commitment about how this infrastructure will be maintained and future infrastructure invested in.
I will say that the new Building Canada plan would not correct these deficiencies, because the problem is that under this new funding scheme, only a maximum of one-third of the cost of any given project would be funded. Many cities and municipalities across the country are already cash-strapped. They do not have the means to be able to raise funds. They cannot just go out and raise taxes. They do not have the wherewithal, yet to get the federal money, they have to put in a third of the money themselves or find it from some other source. We are finding that much of this money cannot be accessed by municipalities.
The other thing is that the requirement of public-private partnerships delays projects. It means there are other hurdles that have to be faced, and it is not always clear that it is going to provide a better, more cost effective access to public infrastructure. That is what is needed across country.