Comment 27986

By Jordan Alcock (anonymous) | Posted December 24, 2008 at 11:18:04

Well written, but I must point out that adding the Mayors of Canada to the first ministers' conferences would mean inviting Thousands of people... After all, every municipality has a mayor. Would you also invite reeves? You couldn't really discriminate based on city size either; how could you justify including the mayors of major cities but not of smaller cities like Kingston, Brantford, Sarnia, Saskatoon, and the like?

The only other issue I really take is that your plan is calling for the centralization of the plan in the federal government. The federal government is not only less efficient, but also blind to the particular needs of municipalities and individual constituencies. I think returning more of the gas tax is a fantastic way to allow cities self-determination in a fair way across the board.

"Working families, rural and urban, are the ones shouldering the $69 billion tab for sewers, roads and other services that needlessly expanding communities in Southern Ontario alone will require over the next 20 years"

Quick question: Who do you believe should be paying for these services? I have to pay for them as a citizen of Ottawa, but I also get to use those services. And because the amount of property tax one pays is based on the value of their home, the amount of tax you pay is generally proportional to your wealth and/or income. The only other people I can see paying for the cities are the rural taxpayers who are already over-burdened by paying for the cities, and massively under-represented politically.

Your goals are nice... but I think getting there is not as straight forward as it may seem.

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