Human Resources committee  It depends on when you get paid back. If you're going to be taking advantage of the upstream in the revenue from a project, if you're subordinated or very subordinated, that means you're down the list in being able to take advantage of the revenues coming in.

Human Resources committee  Or it would be next to last, depending on the financial structure of the deal. It also depends on the terms and conditions of the deal.

Human Resources committee  Again, it would depend on the situation.

Human Resources committee  I think you have to go back to the intent of the bank. There was a huge infrastructure gap in this country, and it was probably not possible for public money to bridge that entire gap. The idea of the bank was to bring private capital into the mix with respect to infrastructure projects.

Human Resources committee  Thank you for the question. I think working with provinces and territories is critical. There are different needs, opportunities, and challenges depending on what province you're working with. Housing issues in Nunavut could be quite different from housing issues in Toronto, for example, though there's always a common denominator at some point in time.

Human Resources committee  In some cases we do have strings attached. A really good example of that within the mandate of this committee, for example, is around persons with disabilities. There are definitely strings attached to the investments we make in all infrastructure projects. I can speak only for our department, but we have strong criteria that say we must at least meet, if not exceed, provincial, municipal or federal standards when it comes to accessibility issues.

Human Resources committee  Not that I'm aware of, no.

Human Resources committee  Pardon, can you—?

Human Resources committee  No, not necessarily.

Human Resources committee  We've been consulting with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities on this and it probably require more consultations. We're always in constant dialogue with them. We do have some interesting programs in place with the FCM. I alluded to them in my opening remarks. A great example is the money we're investing in asset management through the FCM.

Human Resources committee  It's a very good question. Thank you for that. As you correctly pointed out, normally through our programs, we would negotiate bilateral agreements with provinces and territories. Once those agreements are in place, we rely on them to prioritize projects for our consideration. When those projects come in, we do our best to ensure that there is a balance with respect to the types of municipalities that are being supported through our programs.

Human Resources committee  We don't have that as a basis in our criteria. As I said, we have lists of projects, and when the projects come in, we will actually look at what the distribution looks like in a particular province. If there does seem to be an imbalance, we'll try to encourage provinces and territories to look at other opportunities as well, if that's possible.

Human Resources committee  It depends on the program. As for the infrastructure bank, it's too early to tell how that's going to function. As I said, the primary vehicle for programs managed within Infrastructure Canada is through the priority-setting process that the provinces and territories have in place.

Human Resources committee  Yes, exactly. What I can tell you is that, through existing programming, we do have the small communities fund and a national building program. There's funding that can be accessed there for small municipalities. As we move to phase two, if you look to the fall economic statement that the government put out, there is going to be money set aside for rural and northern communities as well, which should address some of those policy issues.

Human Resources committee  I think there are many ways we could do that. Budget 2016 announced funding for public transit in the amount of about $3.4 billion. Public transit is very key for people to move around, for mobility purposes, to get access to educational services, health services, etc. Having access to reliable transit is key, I think, to people who are living in poverty, people who can't afford to own their own vehicle.