Canada’s Big City Mayors Adopt Action Plan to Get Help From Ottawa

By CLINT THOMAS

TORONTO (CP) – The mayors of Canada’s largest cities are calling for a permanent revenue sharing plan with Ottawa and a national transit program as part of a new action plan aimed at better government co-operation to address urban needs.

Representatives from 22 of Canada’s largest cities met in Toronto Wednesday to discuss the fiscal imbalance between what Ottawa gets from cities versus what services they receive in return. The unanimously approved plan expands on three key priorities outlined in a Federation of Canadian Municipalities report released last June.

“We know that our cities cannot be competitive without a national transit strategy. We know that the quality of life of Canadians is intimately connected with their ability to live in cities that are properly funded,” said Toronto Mayor David Miller, who led the meeting.

Another key priority is realigning the responsibilities of the three levels of government.

Miller said the plan is based on priorities listed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Transport, Infrastructure and Communities Minister Lawrence Cannon at the federation’s annual conference, including competitiveness, quality of life, environment and accountability.

“We take the prime minister and Minister Cannon at their word,” Miller said.

The mayors will be looking for specific co-ordinated action from the federal government on six key issues – public transit, revenue sharing, environmental protection, affordable housing, immigrant settlement and public safety.

“We have said at an absolute minimum the current five cents, and one cent should be made permanent,” Miller said referring to the current arrangement where municipalities get part of the gas tax to fund transit.

The mayors are also asking that current infrastructure funding levels be made permanent.

Gloria Kovach, the president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and a city councillor from Guelph, Ont., said mayors recently met with Cannon and she characterized the mood of that meeting as “receptive.”

The mayors also expect to meet with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty shortly.

Kovach pointed to Harper’s speech to the group in June to argue in favour of the approach laid out by the mayors.

“He said that the federal government’s role should be defined to deal with projects of national significance,” Kovach said.

“What could be more important to our national significance than the health of cities and communities that will add to our national prosperity?”

The federation’s June report said half of every tax dollar goes to the federal government while only eight cents goes to municipalities. They called for a more equitable distribution of tax revenues.

The report also states there is a $60-billion infrastructure deficit in the country that grows by $2 billion each year.

However, the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation wasn’t impressed by the mayors’ plan.

“Really, we have to be talking about who’s paying for it, and in the end it seems as though it’s going to be taxpayers,” said Ontario director Neil Desai.

“The City of Toronto has got new taxing powers, a new revenue source, and it’s something we don’t want to see coming to the other big cities in Canada,” he said, referring to the agreement the city has with the province of Ontario through new legislation.

It’s expected that Harper’s fall agenda will include an ambitious package to fix the so-called fiscal imbalance.