Toronto – In a speech to municipal officials from across Canada, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff today presented his vision of the federal role in building cities and communities, which stands in stark contrast to the Harper Conservatives.
“We see you as equal partners. And any federal leader that fails to treat you with equal respect is failing our federation,” Mr. Ignatieff told the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. “Above all, you deserve a government that listens, that keeps its promises and brings our country closer together. That’s the government I want to lead.”
As leader of the party that made the most important contribution to municipal public finance in a generation through its 2005 New Deal for Cities and Communities – which included the creation of the GST rebate, the gas tax transfer and other predictable funding with input from municipalities – Mr. Ignatieff compared the Liberal record to that of the Harper Conservatives.
“Instead of using the gas tax, they politicized the stimulus and delayed the funding,” he said. “They wasted months – and millions of dollars – on TV advertising and self-promotion, while an entire construction season drifted by. At the end of last year, almost $1.5 billion in promised infrastructure funding lapsed, unspent.”
Liberal Infrastructure Critic Gerard Kennedy pointed out how with Stephen Harper’s announcement today that infrastructure stimulus funding will cease next March 31st, municipal property tax-payers will be left to pick up the tab for projects already underway.
“Stephen Harper’s number one economic policy is to borrow another $6 billion annually to reduce taxes for corporations that are already profitable, and he wants to do that on the backs of cities and towns and villages across the country,” he said. “And now, of course, they have a $1.1-billion boondoggle to deal with in relation to G8/G20 security. All of this mismanagement is only going to hurt municipalities.
“Mr. Harper only values municipal infrastructure investment in the short-term, in the context of a recession, and he ignores the over $100-billion infrastructure deficit in Canada. We’re saying a federal partner is needed to create a new kind of partnership with provinces and municipalities to address this problem for the long term.”
Mr. Ignatieff said Liberals would do things quite differently from the Conservatives.
“We need more than corporate tax cuts to build a stronger economy and a stronger society. You deserve a federal partner that works with you on the next generation of transit infrastructure. A new Liberal government will be that federal partner. We need the same kind of partnership on affordable housing so that we can create incentives for building affordable rental units.
“We should also find innovative ways to finance public infrastructure over the longer term. Some provinces – British Columbia, for example – have led the way on public-private partnerships,” he said.
The Liberal Leader said municipalities are at the centre of his top three priorities of learning, care and Canadian leadership in the world.
“The road to making Canada the most open, most international society on earth starts in your backyard – and I don’t just mean closing downtown for the G20. Working together, we can lead on clean energy and green infrastructure – but first we need federal leadership.
“We have to recognize that our cities and communities have a global profile. You are as international as our country as a whole. And when we talk about Canada’s voice in the world, you’re part of it,” he said.
