Mr. Speaker, I thank the Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons for his comments.
I strongly encourage him to convince his government to do just that. As he said himself, it is people in the municipalities, on the ground, who know where the needs are.
I disagreed with one part of his comments, specifically when he talked about the national government. For us, the national government is in Quebec City, since the House has recognized Quebec as a nation. Here, we talk about the federal government.
The federal government must contribute. Money must be transferred in a lump sum. Think of the gas tax model. Before so many conditions were added, the money was transferred on a per capita basis. That allowed local authorities to work with known amounts, to know what to expect and spend the money quickly on the ground, and not only in large urban centres.