David Collenette had it half right. Speaking at the Couchiching
Conference on Cities and Globalization, the federal transport minister mused
about the critical need for infrastructure investment in Canada's cities.
"The federal government understands the concerns of urban Canada and
we are working on initiatives to deal with it," Collenette
assured conference delegates. He's not saying anything that most of
us aren't already painfully aware of.
The need for investment in transportation infrastructure, particularly in southern
Ontario, is obvious to anyone who has the misfortune of
having to commute to Toronto or cross the border at
Niagara or Windsor.
Still, hearing a senior government minister acknowledge that reality, and
by extension admit Ottawa's failure to contribute to solutions, is
encouraging. We're also heartened by Collenette's recognition of the state
of subsidized housing stock in major urban centres such as
Hamilton. The minister, who also has responsibility for the Canada
Mortgage and Housing Corp., said Ottawa may be poised to
get back into the subsidized housing business. How that should
happen is very much an open question, but there's no
denying the problem or arguing with the fact that the
feds, and Queen's Park, too, have been negligently disregarding affordable
housing for too long.
Source.
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