Canadian Mayors Ask For Help

It is unusual that a Canadian prime minister meets directly with municipal leaders "who struggle in the trenches to provide roads, water, transit, free-flowing traffic, police, parks and libraries." As PM Martin works out his "new deal" for cities, he may be "running into resistance from the provinces unhappy at the prospect of federal tax dollars flowing directly to municipalities." Beyond securing new sources of funding for cities, he will also need to find a way to prevent the provinces from "pulling back their funding to cities" as more federal dollars flow directly to municipalities.