Transport committee  Yes, I think it's critical. The municipalities, as you know, are prevented by provincial legislation from running deficits, and they can borrow for capital but not for operating. There are real financial limits there. The Canada community-building fund is a very efficient, effect

Transport committee  That's right.

Transport committee  I think, Mr. Badawey, what you are speaking to here is how we allocate the costs of climate change, which is admittedly a big challenge. There are historical decisions. One of the mayors mentioned that their settlement is 160 years old, predating any knowledge of climate change,

Transport committee  Thank you very much for the question. I certainly agree with that concern. That's been a concern of the federal government. Maybe just as some background for all of your colleagues, when the the disaster mitigation and adaptation fund first came in, it had a $20-million minimu

Transport committee  Thanks for the question. The mandate of FCM is entirely federal, though we do work in close collaboration with our provincial and territorial counterparts. In Quebec, we collaborate with the Union des municipalités du Québec and with the Fédération québécoise des municipalités.

Transport committee  Thank you very much. That's a great question. I think one of the key elements there is that communities of all sizes are experiencing acute impacts from climate change. What's important in federal funding programs, as we've heard today—and I think it has been a theme of the disc

Transport committee  FCM has certainly been involved with Infrastructure Canada in the development of the climate lens. For everyone's benefit, this would be federal infrastructure funding requiring funding recipients to conduct an assessment of either the emissions or the climate risk and vulnerabil

Transport committee  I certainly hope it's been done well. We've made every effort to make it available to small rural communities. The feedback we've heard from our membership is that the asset management funding has been particularly important for small communities.

Transport committee  Thank you for the question. You mentioned earlier the flooding in Charlevoix and other regions of Quebec, and I wanted to acknowledge that. I heard the mayor of Baie-Saint-Paul on the radio this weekend, and it's really devastating what the community is experiencing. As you ment

Transport committee  Asset management planning is something that FCM has been advancing and supporting our members with for a number of years now, in part through a program funded by Infrastructure Canada called the municipal asset management program. One of our recommendations to the federal govern

Transport committee  The asset management program map has been in place for a number of years now. It has primarily funded small rural communities. All municipalities are eligible for it, but the greatest need for asset management planning has been from smaller rural communities in all provinces and

Transport committee  It is something FCM supports. The key, though, is that there is support for businesses and homeowners to relocate when that's deemed to be the best, most cost-effective option. Currently, as was noted, either through the DFAA program or through DMAF—the disaster mitigation and ad

Transport committee  Thanks for the question. That is a terrific point. I think when it comes to funding for climate adaptation, regardless of the funding source, one of the recommendations FCM made in the national adaptation strategy was that we need to be prioritizing investment in communities tha

Transport committee  Yes. I think the reality is that these are tough decisions for elected officials at all levels of government. I would say that, whatever we're building, whether it's a new hockey rink or whether it's an upgrade to a highway, we need to be rebuilding or building that to a higher

Transport committee  I would say it's clear that we aren't allocating enough resources currently when it comes to climate change, and that's going to require all orders of government to increase the amount of investment. FCM's recommendation is not that it all come from the federal government, but th