David Miller makes the funding structure of Canadian cities an election issue, and endorses the Greens because they at least have a plan for cities.
The first comment on this blog post is a hoot; commenter suggests that if citizens agree, we should just raise taxes some more (property/ business taxes, presumably), and he completely ignores the main point, that all consumption taxes (PST, GST), as well as all income taxes, go straight to the senior levels of government, with municipalities only getting pieces of this (if any) through complicated transfer schedules. Let cities get a direct cut of PST or GST, instead.
"The prime minister always says cities are not of national importance," said Miller. "They are. And all of the parties should be speaking to that."
Although David Miller seems to be alone among mayors who opine on the federal election, perhaps the rest should take his example. It would be nice to have more democratically elected officials give their constituents an honest opinion.
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