Mr. Speaker, I was getting quite carried away in my speech previously, about the importance of insuring that the money gets to the communities. I will continue in the same vein because this is a topic of extreme importance.
We have heard from several Conservative members that a lot of money has been distributed at this time, or rather announced. There is a huge difference between announcing a project and putting the first shovel in the ground.
I mentioned two facets of the project in the Eel River Bar community in the Restigouche region. The first dealt with providing drinking water in order to create a tourist development. The second aspect is the tourist development project itself, an aboriginal garden.
These two aspects need funding if they are to be finalized. They are not new projects, but existing projects, ready to be finished. Where the water supply is concerned, the province of New Brunswick has even made a commitment: if the federal government was in it, so was the province.
So there are two parts to the project and the Conservative government says that money is available, that the sod has been turned, that projects have been announced. But in the meantime, in actuality, there has been no progress whatever on these two phases of the project. One of them cannot be finished because the federal government does not want to give the necessary funding, and as far as the other is concerned, the federal government does not want to contribute to improving the drinking water infrastructure.
Hon. members will understand that I am more than skeptical when I hear from the Conservative members that money is on its way to the communities. The truth is that, at this time, no money has gone out to the communities. Promises have been made in the House. We hear plenty of great promises from the government MPs, but the reality is that our communities are not getting the results.
It would be interesting to know what the situation is in small rural communities all across the country. Part of the riding I represent is entirely rural. There are a lot of important projects that need to be done. The communities, for their part, have to be accountable to the people who live there, provide them with services, and improve their quality of life. They must also be able to carry out these infrastructure projects. If they want to do them, as things stand now, the federal government asks them to provide so much money that they are unable to draw up plans and get the projects rolling because they do not have as much as the Conservative government wants them to provide.
We want the government to speed up the funding to these municipalities, towns and villages. What we need first is speed. Then we need flexibility. Finally, we need to ensure that the program to return the gasoline tax will give these cities, towns and villages the funds they need to complete the most pressing infrastructure projects for the people of their communities.
I also gave the example of the city of Edmundston. This is a real priority. The sewage system needs to be divided, separating the storm and sanitary sewers. This is a quality of life issue for the people. We need to ensure that people’s houses are not inundated when there are major floods. I am not talking about floods of drinking water but of stuff that is not very appealing on the environmental level. The City of Edmundston is ready to proceed with this project, but the government says that it probably does not fit the current funding situation.
I want to hear the opposite. I want to hear the government members say that projects from Eel River Bar, the City of Edmundston and all the others that have been submitted by municipalities in my riding, or will be over the next few weeks and months, are going to get done. Even better, I want the funding to be there and the projects to start. I want a real infrastructure program to get the Canadian economy going again and put the businesses in our rural communities back to work. If they are back at work, there will be employees on construction sites erecting buildings and making roads. People will have water and sewage systems.
That is the way it is. What we want is very straightforward. We want to make sure that our municipalities have access to what they need to provide services to their residents. It is not that complicated, so I cannot understand why the government thinks that citizens will believe their little promises about spending money all over the place. Our constituents want results. They want to see shovels in the ground. They want water and sewer services. They want the infrastructure they need to get those services. That is what they want. They do not want promises. They do not want to hear that the government is working on it. They want to see people put shovels in the ground. They want to see the grader grade and the backhoe dig. That is what they need.
The Conservative government must change its mind about our motion and admit that the Liberal idea is a good one because it would put money directly in the hands of communities.
All we can do now is hope that the government will open its eyes. Someone once told me that we might have to think of the Conservatives as little babies or kittens that suddenly open their eyes and understand common sense. That is what we are trying to make the Conservatives understand. People in communities just want the Conservatives to accept common sense. They want access to the money now so that they can get started on their projects.
I know that my time is up, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. I hope the Liberal motion will pass. This is an extremely important motion for the infrastructure in our communities.
