The mayors of Canada's largest cities will meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper today in a bid to win new funding — and new respect — for the nation's major urban centres.
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The mayors will arrive at the meeting armed with a report they issued on Thursday containing recommendations arrived at during meetings earlier this week. They are:
The federal government should share revenue that grows with the economy, such as income tax and the federal goods and services tax. Government roles should be redefined so that there's no longer any overlap in government services. The federal government should create a national transit program as soon as possible, noting Canada is the only G8 country without one.
The mayors also say they want to be consulted on major decisions and projects.
Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay applauded the prime minister for consulting with the mayors.
"He's saying very clearly, 'if we want to solve this problem, we can't only do it with the provinces and the territories.' It concerns the municipalities. That's the first time that the mind-set is changing," Tremblay said Thursday.
The mayors say they're still a long way from solving the $60-billion infrastructure problem in the Canada's large urban centres.
But Regina Mayor Pat Fiacco is confident Harper will act on the recommendations in their report. "This is the first step. We will distribute it to the prime minister. He needs time to read it, to go through it," Fiacco said.
The mayors fought long and hard to get gas tax benefits from Ottawa, Fiacco said, and he hopes Harper will be just as receptive when he meets with them on Friday.