Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, as far as the amalgamation goes we're not assuming anything. We realize that it's a process that we have to go through called the Capital Planning Process and the main estimates being held in February and March. This is an initiative that, depending on how things go with the main estimate debate, is not going to come into force until April 1st. So the Capital Budget is not coming in effective until April 1st, and the same with the O and M budget would come into effect April 1st. So it's on those grounds that we bring this initiative forward.
As far as some of the other community projects that the Member speaks of, I've said a number of times in the past in my former capacity that the communities have the ability with the infrastructure money that's given them and other possible money that they're able to access to identify what some of their priorities are and use the capital money that we give them to make those a reality. It puts a lot of responsibility on the communities, but communities have responded well to that. I've said before that if we work some of these smaller projects into the capital plan, then we're making the decisions for the communities again, and they've proven that they're quite capable of making their own decisions as to what their priorities are.
So, Mr. Chair, the communities have the ability, as I've said before, and I think I've rattled on a little too long. Thank you, Mr. Chair.