Mr. Speaker, as a rural MP like me, my colleague knows that local governments are responsible for about 60% of infrastructure costs, yet they only collect about 10% of overall revenue. I know this as a former municipal councillor from Tofino.
I will give an example. The Village of Cumberland, in my riding, is dealing with cost overruns due to supply chain inflation, and they see the federal government as a critical partner for accomplishing that infrastructure as the major tax collector. They cannot get flexibility from the federal government when there are cost overruns.
Does my colleague agree that the government needs to create more flexibility and needs to be a stronger partner? We are on the eve of FCM. It is important for municipalities to know.