Canada’s largest municipalities need a new strategy
Posted Nov 29, 2010 10:50 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The chambers of commerce from 13 of Canada’s largest municipalities are appealing to federal and provincial governments for a new urban strategy to keep cities from falling apart.
They say Canada’s big cities are facing a fiscal crunch that threatens their ability to pay for such things as transit, sewers and housing.
A release, set to be made public on Tuesday says the bottom line is that canada’s largest urban centres need a more stable, secure and growing revenue source.
Richard Truscott from The Canadian Federation of Independent Business tells 660News, a new urban strategy is a good thing if it’s simply a case of shifting around responsibilities and resources but not if it means new taxing powers for municipalities or more resources devoted to urban centres.
He says Alberta has seen major infrastructure investments in recent years which, unfortunately comes with escalating operating costs and that can be bad for small businesses.
The chambers say that should not mean more taxes, but a different way to split the current tax pie between the three levels of government and city governments should not get additional funding without strings, including performance and accountability requirements to make sure the money is not wasted.
They say the continuing trend of people flocking to urban centres has brought on a disconnect between tax revenue and spending requirements.
