Conference Board of Canada: Feds Should Help Cities

Here is what Canada's leading business organization is saying about Canadian cities and their need for more help from the Canadian Federal Government:

"At this point in the debate over how best to address urban challenges, it’s safe to assume general agreement that our major cities cannot continue on their present course without compromising our quality of life and economic prosperity. Even a recent report arguing that Canadian municipalities in general should look to themselves rather than senior levels of government to solve their funding woes acknowledges that municipalities in Alberta and Ontario (which comprise nearly half of Canada’s 27 census metropolitan areas and 36 percent of its population) are special cases requiring additional taxing flexibility to make ends meet."

"The dispute over where cities should look for financial and policy relief, however, is far from settled. In light of the recent federal election, it appears that the argument might be tilting toward the “anyone-but-Ottawa” side of the debate, as the new Government promotes its vision of a decentralized and open federalism that leaves provinces more autonomous within their Constitutional spheres of jurisdiction and narrows the federal government’s role in managing the nation’s affairs."

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