"Get set - the future starts now" by Christopher Hume (Toronto Star) - The Diigo Meta page

• 16 Jul 08
  

  Yule Heibel

  Well, don't say I didn't tell you so:
  QUOTE:
  "Politically," Miller continues, "cities in Canada don't exist, especially at the federal level. As far as I know, this is virtually unique in the world. Throughout the world, federal and national governments invest in cities, but we don't see that here. All cities in Canada are suffering from lack of federal spending."
  UNQUOTE
  This is so distressing, from where I'm sitting -- because Victoria has the additional burden of being one of 13 municipalities in an urban conglomeration (the CRD), and has the additional burden of being a "lefty" NDP hold-out in BC Liberal Party-land. It shouldn't BE this partisan, and yet it seems to be...

  christopher_hume thestar cities municipal_funding

  • Just eight years after the end of the last century, it's clear that the word "urban" no longer means quite what it did. Indeed, for the first time in human history, more people now inhabit cities than don't. Canada is no exception.

    "Canadians don't think of themselves as an urban nation," Miller notes. "But the fact is that we live in cities. The economic ingenuity of cities is what's going to lead us into the future."

    But as Miller points out, we have a little governance issue here that we have yet to deal with; namely weak cities, a federal regime apparently unaware of them, and provinces with their own priorities.

    "Politically," Miller continues, "cities in Canada don't exist, especially at the federal level. As far as I know, this is virtually unique in the world. Throughout the world, federal and national governments invest in cities, but we don't see that here. All cities in Canada are suffering from lack of federal spending."

  • And although Miller insists he's an optimist, he also admits he's worried. Toronto and Canada are falling behind the rest of the world, he says, in building and maintaining the urban infrastructure.
  • 2 more annotations...

  • • According to Miller, "We have tied ourselves up in political correctness and NIMBYism. People have such a fear of change, but at some point things have to change."

      The status quo, he warns, will lead inevitably to declining productivity and quality of life.

    • And while cities everywhere else are busy renewing themselves, Miller fears Canadians have grown complacent, taking the nation and cities' prosperity for granted.

      "We need to develop a sense of urgency," he says. "Toronto is such a rich city, but we're not marshalling our strengths in an effective way."

      At this point, Miller suggests, the best way to overcome inertia and get some momentum going is simply to pick a project and start.

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