House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2015, with 33% of the vote.
Infrastructure March 31st, 2014
Mr. Speaker, I have heard “balance the budget” and “the budget will balance by itself”. That is what I have heard.
We will continue to work with our partners. We respect jurisdictions. There are four different components to the plan. One is with the provinces and territories, and we will respect that.
Infrastructure March 31st, 2014
Mr. Speaker, if the former minister of finance does not know how government finances work, we will be happy to talk with him.
We just launched the program. We will continue to work with four different—
Infrastructure March 31st, 2014
Mr. Speaker, never in Canadian history has a government supported municipalities as much as ours has. With the gas tax fund, municipalities already have 100% of this part of the component.
We respect jurisdictions. She probably does not care about provinces and territories, but to respect provinces and territories, we continue to work with them. For the component for PTs, we will work with them.
Infrastructure March 31st, 2014
Mr. Speaker, my colleague is misleading people by deliberately neglecting to mention the building Canada plan, one of the four components of the plan.
The building Canada plan represents $53 billion over 10 years. It is the longest and most significant plan in the country's history. Municipalities will directly receive 71% for infrastructure. As for the component she mentioned, we have set aside $1 billion for municipalities with 100,000 people or less.
Infrastructure March 24th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, that statement is totally false.
We launched the longest and largest infrastructure plan in the history of Canada, with $53 billion. We have already sent every province the gas tax fund renewal and the GST rebate. We are on track to sign agreements with the provinces. Never, in the history of Canada, has a government invested as much as we have. We will continue to do so.
Infrastructure March 24th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, the preamble is totally wrong. Earlier this year, we announced the details of the longest and largest infrastructure plan in Canada's history: the $53 billion building Canada plan. We have sent the renewals of the gas tax fund to all the provinces since November 5, many are on the way to being signed, and we will invest this money very soon.
Infrastructure March 24th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, it is very interesting to hear this MP say my predecessor worked to balance the budget, when his leader said the budget would balance by itself. We know that is strongly different. We have no lessons to take from the Liberal Party regarding infrastructure funding. Billions of dollars have been invested since 2006, and billions will continue to flow. Since 2007, we have invested $33 billion.
Infrastructure March 6th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, as I have said, he has to look at the 10-year plan. It is a 10-year plan.
We have indexed the gas tax fund. We have doubled it. That is now permanent in the law; 71% of this plan is going straight to the municipalities of the country, and FCM is supporting that plan.
Infrastructure March 6th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, our government has nearly tripled average annual infrastructure investments since 2006.
The economic action plan 2013 announced $70 billion over 10 years, a decade. We have to look at all 10 years, including the $53 billion for provincial, territorial, and municipal infrastructure.
Questions on the Order Paper March 6th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, with regard to part (a), final project costs will be determined by the end of the competitive procurement process for the public private partnership, PPP, after the project agreement has been signed. Very preliminary estimates suggest the cost of the project could be between $3 billion to $5 billion. This would include design and construction costs for the whole project, which, in addition to the replacement of the Champlain Bridge, includes the alignment with A-10; highway works on île des Sœurs; the replacement of the île des Sœurs bridge; as well as the widening and reconstruction of the federal portion of A-15.
With regard to part (b), it is too early to say what the toll rate will be. Additional studies will be completed and discussions will be held prior to the establishment of the toll rate. Several toll scenarios are being examined that are consistent with tolls in effect in the Montreal region and will be made public at a later date.