Madam Speaker, when I was a city councillor and former chair for infrastructure and transportation in the City of Barrie, we obviously advocated for increased funding for transit. Around areas like the GTA and the greater Vancouver area, it becomes important.
The government does have a mechanism through the gas tax funding, as I said in the last Parliament when we were debating an issue with respect to infrastructure. It is the one and only area where the federal government can have a direct input by allocating money to the gas tax that goes directly to those municipalities for the types of investments that the hon. member spoke to. It gives those municipalities a lot of latitude as well. They can invest the money in transit or in roads or in a whole set of criteria that relate to the gas tax fund.
When I brought it up, I remember the member for Trinity—Spadina, who is a former city councillor himself, cynically said that we do not want municipalities using it to reduce the tax rate. That is not what the gas tax rebate is all about and it is not what municipalities use it for. As a member of city council in Barrie, I can say that we did not use it to reduce the tax rate. As well, I know that the Town of Innisfil council does not use it for that reason either.