Honourable senators, my question is for the Government Representative in the Senate.

Senator Harder, yesterday I had the opportunity to ask a question of Minister McKenna while she was here. I put forward the context that I very much support the budget initiative of $130 million over five years to expand networks and infrastructure for charging electric vehicles. I see it as an important contribution to the climate change debate and to getting results, given the contribution that transportation makes to greenhouse gases.

I’m prone to going on too long in a preamble. Maybe that’s why the minister spoke to my preamble and not the specific question, so I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt.

I will put my specific questions to you, Senator Harder. My concern is about rural and remote communities. I am a senator for northern Ontario. I represent many communities, and I live in one, where there is no infrastructure with respect to charging electric vehicles. Is the government putting forward a specific plan to address the unique needs of these communities? What commitments or targets does that entail? What monitoring, measuring and reporting will be done? Most important, as I said to the minister, if you don’t have those answers today, will you provide us with this information before the budget bill arrives in the Senate for deliberation?