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Big city mayors to meet in Toronto
Last Updated Sat, 10 Jan 2004 10:59:53
TORONTO - Mayors from some of the biggest cities in the country are banding together to push Prime Minister Paul Martin for a new urban agenda.
Toronto Mayor David Miller invited the mayors of Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Regina and Halifax to Toronto for Jan. 22-23.
He believes most will attend the meetings in the week before the federal government's Feb. 2 throne speech.
Miller says he wants to make it impossible for the prime minister to backtrack on promises he has already made.
"I think it's much harder for the federal government to ignore the mayors of Canada's largest cities when they have the same message and the same agenda," said Miller.
The Toronto mayor says public transit, affordable housing and immigration are just a few of the common issues the cities are facing.
Myer Siemiatycki, urban politics professor at Ryerson University, says municipal governments are no longer competing with each other over issues of transit and housing.
"It's trying to pull together a united front of cities across the country in saying, on the basic issues of the future of Canadian cities, we stand together," said Siemiatycki.
Details of exactly what the mayors will ask of the federal government will be decided at the meeting.
Written by CBC News Online staff
Last Updated Sat, 10 Jan 2004 10:59:53
TORONTO - Mayors from some of the biggest cities in the country are banding together to push Prime Minister Paul Martin for a new urban agenda.
Toronto Mayor David Miller invited the mayors of Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Regina and Halifax to Toronto for Jan. 22-23.
He believes most will attend the meetings in the week before the federal government's Feb. 2 throne speech.
Miller says he wants to make it impossible for the prime minister to backtrack on promises he has already made.
"I think it's much harder for the federal government to ignore the mayors of Canada's largest cities when they have the same message and the same agenda," said Miller.
The Toronto mayor says public transit, affordable housing and immigration are just a few of the common issues the cities are facing.
Myer Siemiatycki, urban politics professor at Ryerson University, says municipal governments are no longer competing with each other over issues of transit and housing.
"It's trying to pull together a united front of cities across the country in saying, on the basic issues of the future of Canadian cities, we stand together," said Siemiatycki.
Details of exactly what the mayors will ask of the federal government will be decided at the meeting.
Written by CBC News Online staff