The Toronto Star’s David Rider talks to the president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, who is pretty fired up about the need for increased federal funding for Canada’s towns and cities, especially as various programs are set to expire:
“It’s time for leadership — traffic gridlock is choking our cities, local police services are overstretched, and 175,000 Canadian families are on affordable housing waiting lists,†said FCM president Hans Cunningham.
“Municipalities just don’t have the funding tools other governments have, and they can’t afford to meet these national challenges all on their own.â€
via Federal funds for cities set to expire, municipalities ask: What’s the plan? – thestar.com.
Hell yes. This is a cause we can all get behind, right? Our mayor, who just a few months back was threatening to unleash ‘Ford Nation’ on the provincial government unless they coughed up more funds, should be all over this kind of thing.
Let’s see what he had to say:
So far, Ford has not followed predecessor David Miller’s lead in being a leading FCM voice lobbying Ottawa. Cunningham said FCM staff have talked to Ford’s staff, but not to the mayor himself.
“At this point we haven’t heard from Toronto with regard to their goals with this election. We hope to do that shortly . . . ,†he said, noting he understands “the big issue in Toronto is subways.â€
In other words:
Tags: federal matters