Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Municipal Affairs. In the private sector, communities do not receive either capital or O and M funding for equipment and facilities, which are supplied by contractors, and not owned by communities. On the other hand, when communities deliver municipal services through their own process, they receive capital funding for equipment, infrastructure, as well as O and M funding, for the operation and maintenance within those communities.

Mr. Speaker, my question to the Minister is, in the case of a community that wants to look at contracting out certain sectors to the private sector, that they should not be penalized and they should receive the same amount of funding as those communities that do receive O and M funds. Is the Minister presently looking at that possibility?