Five ways Ottawa can help Canada’s cities

The health of the nation depends on the strength of our cities. And the strength of our cities depends on a renewed federal role.

Thestar.com
May 7, 2015
By Adam Vaughan


“A totally new philosophy is required, one which recognizes that cities exist, that cities are powerful and that the strength of the nation depends on the health of cities.”

Wise words from long ago. It’s time for a new urban agenda and here’s what it must do:

Re-establish the federal role in housing

The Harper government has deepened the affordable housing crisis and somehow at the same time managed to put the private housing market in a very precarious position. A new national housing strategy must address both affordable housing and housing affordability.

Firstly, the repair backlogs and waiting lists need to be eliminated. The construction or acquisition of new social housing must be funded. The expiry of existing social housing agreements must be urgently addressed. We need renewals and reinvestments, particularly in co-op housing.

Secondly, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) must be re-mandated and get back into managing the housing market more effectively and more aggressively and focus on creating private rental housing.
Thirdly, supportive housing is required to deal with challenges like an aging homeless population, youth, urban aboriginals, women escaping domestic violence, and people with mental health or addiction issues. This can be rolled out most effectively by partnering with cities directly.

Make cities an equal partner

Years of downloading have added massive costs to municipal budgets. To maintain existing services, local governments need new revenues.

Municipalities cannot build and maintain 60 per cent of Canada’s existing infrastructure with only 8 per cent of the nation’s tax base. You can’t fix roads, set pipes and build transit by cutting taxes and budgets. New funding streams must be delivered.

Over a decade ago when former prime minister Paul Martin delivered the gas tax, its impact was immediately effective. A new funding stream must be delivered.

Renew support for essential infrastructure

When it comes to traditional infrastructure - roads, pipes, transit - the existing program designed under former prime minister Jean Chrétien worked. Twenty years later it has been re-branded as the Action Plan by the Conservative government. The Inaction Plan is a better name. Under current guidelines, the announced money won’t be spent for close to 10 years. This past year, the funds were actually cut by close to 90 per cent.

Not a single dollar from the new Building Canada Infrastructure Fund arrived in Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver.

For cities to prosper and grow they need stable, predictable and robust funding. Large and small municipalities need local autonomy respected. Projects cannot be chosen by the prime minster based on electoral calculations. The federal cabinet shouldn’t draw lines on maps and re-route subways any more than they should choose where to build bridges or what colour the new slide in a park will be.

This is not to say objectives cannot be set. Requiring cities to be transit friendly and submit plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is vital. The federal government needs to partner with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to co-ordinate an agenda and work with the provinces to deliver results.

Look beyond infrastructure

Municipalities are more than just pipes and bridges. The quality of life in our cities deserves annual and predictable funding too. Cultural facilities need the same stable funding as recreational infrastructure.

Measure how our cities are performing

The long-form census needs to be brought back. A standard system of measuring municipal performance needs to be established so that we can track and compare how our cities are doing nationally and internationally. Resources are scarce, we cannot afford to fail, or squander investments. Good data is good government.

Annual meetings between the prime minister and the nation’s mayors need to be held. Partnership is not just about cutting cheques, it involves dialogue too.

The opening quote in this article was written almost 50 years ago just as Canada was beginning to recognize that it was becoming an urban nation. It was penned by my father, Colin Vaughan, and submitted to a federal Liberal policy convention. A generation ago we invested in cities. We built an urban nation.

Canada no longer needs a new philosophical approach to cities. What urban areas need now is a new partnership. It is time for the federal government to bring municipalities, provinces and territories together. The people of Canada need strong communities to live in as badly as Canada needs strong cities and towns.

A federal government that ignores cities ignores Canadians. It’s time to engage, invest, build and grow. It’s time for a new urban agenda. Urban voters need to stand up for cities.

Adam Vaughan is the Member of Parliament for Trinity-Spadina in downtown Toronto, and the Liberal Party of Canada’s critic for housing and urban affairs.