Random Access

“Endowed with growing and diverse populations and chronically short of resources and new revenue sources, major cities cannot provide the services, the infrastructure and the community assets that they need to thrive. If we do not address these shortfalls, neither our cities nor our economy will be globally competitive.”
Those are the words of Anne Golden, president and CEO of the Conference Board of Canada who issued a report yesterday optimistically titled, Mission Possible: Successful Canadian Cities.
Like a lot of high-level reports, it tells us an awful lot of what we already know.
Things like the fact that our cities are struggling with issues of gridlock, lack of high level transit and affordable housing, infrastructure replacement, environmental degradation, and intensification of development, all with little or no financial or planning assistance from the provincial and federal governments.
Things like the fact that while the feds keep downloading to the provinces and the provinces keep downloading to the municipalities, cities are stuck with the same old problem of revenues that must be primarily generated from property taxes – a highly inflexible system that doesn’t allow innovative investment in areas that could really stimulate local economies and help create a cultural identity (i.e. the arts).
“Chronically short of resources,” states the report, “and poorly equipped with governance powers, our big cities are struggling to fulfill their potential as engines of national prosperity.”
Never mind that. They are struggling to fulfill their potential as engines of local prosperity.
By now you are probably thinking that you’ve heard this speech before... and indeed you have. Hazel McCallion, David Miller, Ann Mulvale, even Mel Lastman have all been singing the same tune for so long, that the hymn book falls open automatically at the same page.
Perhaps a sea change is at hand, however.
The so-called “cities agenda” that big city mayors like McCallion have been touting for a decade or more, finally seems to be making some inroads onto the media and political radar.
We now have a revamped Municipal Act in Ontario that actually recognizes that Toronto is a different beast than the rest of the cities in Ontario. Someday, we’ll reach the shocking realization that all God’s cities have unique needs.
With a provincial election in October and a federal election TBA later this year, the Conference Board of Canada report is perfectly timed to put the cities debate where it belongs, close to the top of the national agenda.
It is often said that municipalities are the children of the provinces and the federal government.
Looking at the history of the paternalistic relationship, it would be more accurate to call them the orphans of the storm.
Time for a long-overdue reversal of misfortune.