Finance committee  No.

Finance committee  If you are referring to the RCMP, we certainly would be able to do that. There's a shortage of officers, but I don't have the number with me.

Finance committee  We struggle even with the definition of high-speed internet. What is it?

Finance committee  I will give you a personal anecdote. I live 25 miles from Winnipeg. I can wait three to four minutes before Netflix kicks in, just to give you a flavour of it. That's not unique. Download speeds are the slowest in the country. We travel the province and we hear the complaints in the outlying areas of the north suggesting that they're unique.

Finance committee  It took effect on February 2015. Basically, it's the deductible that was increased, so that we would need now a $5-million disaster event in order for there to be potential for federal involvement in that disaster assistance program. What that resulted in was that the provincial government chose to take that gap and pass that down to the municipalities.

Finance committee  I think I started my comments by offering that we are the third level of government, and sometimes the least appreciated. As an organization representing the municipalities, we are on the ground. We're grassroots. We are directly on site and are able to identify the projects. That's why we appreciate having been able to play a role with the federal government in identifying projects.

Finance committee  We have identified $11 billion. It's growing rapidly because we do have growth in our province. That, of course, places additional stress on our infrastructure.

Finance committee  The shortfall is more with the cities of Winnipeg and Brandon. The larger police forces in particular are struggling to maintain the level of service that's expected by their communities. Because of the ability of the RCMP to unionize, we have already identified that as an additional cause for concern and very likely a potential additional cost.

Finance committee  Thank you for the opportunity. Accessibility for Manitobans and the national or federal role is very relevant to us at this moment. We've been involved as an organization with the provincial government in establishing and creating The Accessibility for Manitobans Act of 2013. It's a good act.

Finance committee  Thank you, Ms. Ashton. Yes, we were involved almost from the very moment the announcements were made affecting our northern communities, Churchill and all the communities along the rail line that in some form or another depend on that line to be there to provide the communities with the commodities and services they need.

Finance committee  I was going to offer a comment on the suggestion of the impact for us in Manitoba regarding the downturn in the price of oil. Certainly our municipalities and our member communities are impacted at the end of the day. There's one taxpayer, so when there's a loss of jobs or businesses have to leave, our communities struggle to meet the demands that are placed on them.

Finance committee  I know you didn't direct the question at me, but I do have a contribution. One of the issues that I think would help us as municipalities is that the Canada-Manitoba job grant program has excluded municipalities. A resolution that was supported by 95% of our members at our last convention asked for the government to reconsider the exclusion of municipalities from that program.

Finance committee  Good morning. My name is Ralph Groening. I'm the vice-president of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities. We are the one organization that represents all third levels of government in the province of Manitoba, including the City of Winnipeg. We're pleased to be here to present a few policy items that are of importance to us.