Human Resources committee  I will try to say this delicately, obviously. Municipal governments have a key role as enablers, facilitators, and implementers. There's no question that a range of national policy frameworks have been developed without the participation of municipal governments. We believe the d

Human Resources committee  It's certainly recognized that municipalities are going to play a key role, especially as enablers and implementers. But there's no question that our position is that the property tax is not really the most efficient or effective way of raising revenue for services to people, esp

Government Operations committee  If you're speaking about the housing stimulus funds available in the economic action plan, there's no doubt that the $1 billion available for housing renovations and retrofit is a significant sum. It is only available over a two-year period, because the policy objective of that p

Government Operations committee  First, just to clarify, that loan program is actually for infrastructure, it's not for housing. But you're right, the low-interest loan is going to be available essentially at cost to what the government achieves with its own borrowing. It's over a 10-year period, and the 0.25%

Government Operations committee  Obviously only the Government of Canada is going to have the most exact figures. FCM doesn't undertake its own reporting with our members, for the simple reason that there's a very clear set of reporting guidelines through the contribution agreements that flow these moneys throug

Government Operations committee  To get the exact figure, you will have to speak to the federal government. However, it is our understanding, from our analysis of the September stimulus report, updates that Minister Baird has sent to our members, and discussions we've had with officials, that more than 3,000 mun