This week, Spacing Montreal takes a look at what each federal party has in store for cities. For an overview of the issues, see Monday’s post.
As one of our commentators recently pointed out, NDP leader Jack Layton has held the role of president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and began his political career as a city councillor in Toronto in 1982. Layton’s position on municipal issues certainly caters to cities, although the deciphering the financial promises can feel a bit like unpacking Russian dolls…
In addition to existing programs, the NDP want to increase spending on cities by $7 billion per year over the next 4 years. The new funding would come from:
- Increasing municipalies’ share of the Gas Tax Transfer from 5 cents per litre to 6 cents per litre and
- Making big polluters pay, by capping emissions and then auctioning emissions credits to polluting companies.
- Note that, the NDP promise to invest the equivalent to 1 cent of the GST in urban and community priorities refers to proceeds from the increased gas-tax and carbon auctions.
Infrastructure: The $7 billion would cover “building and social infrastructure” – everything from childcare and libraries right up to bridges and border crossings. Within this budget, $4 billion per year is promised for “hard” infrastructure like transit, transportation, borders, as well as home and building environmental retrofits, and sewer and water treatment facilities.
Furthermore, the NDP would invest half the annual surplus in infrastructure (including transit), which would amount to about $1.2 billion this year.
Transit: Last month, Layton blitzed across the country pledging millions in transit investment in each city, including $591 million (over 4 years) for Montreal’s ailing public transit system. The money for transit, which lies within the hard infrastructure budget, would amount on average to $1 billion per year over the next 4 years, the largest investment proposed by any party this election.
The NDP would also provide federal support for pedestrian walkways and bicycle paths, which they see as an investment in both reducing greenhouse gas emissions and in the health of Canadians.
Housing: Jack Layton and the NDP approach housing and homelessness with a 10-year strategy that embraces the One Percent Solution. This would dedicate about 1% of the federal budget – about $2 billion annually – to stable long-term funding for new and retrofitted affordable homes. The NDP plan sets targets aboriginal people, women and seniors, who currently face the highest rates of housing insecurities, as well as families, single people, students, people with special physical and mental health needs, and transitional housing to combat homelessness.
Safer Communities: The NDP is also the only party that platform proposes funding ($100 million over 4 years) to hire 2,500 new police officers in Canada’s cities. However, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities critiques this, saying that the allocated sum would only cover half that number of officers, and wonders whether municipalities would be forced to assume the cost of the additional forces after 4 years.
Although the NDP plan for tackling the infrastructure deficit is not as long-term as the Liberals,’ their approach to housing in particular shows foresight. The party also produced concrete results, when they negotiated a budget agreement with the then-Liberal government in 2005. The NDP amendments to the budget forfeited promised tax-cuts to large corporations and instead increased investment in housing, education, and transit.