Local MPs talk urban issues with Mayor
And while no one would make any specific promises about the kind of sustainable federal funding Toronto and other cities might receive, Zed and Sgro both made the point that cities would find more help from a Liberal government than from Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives.
"We're very committed to the cities - we understand the need and we were already doing a lot of this before - this is not a new thing for us," Sgro said. "Call it whatever you like, but we're very committed to ensuring that the cities have the money they require."
The meeting is the first in a series that the newly reformed Liberal Urban Communities Caucus intends to have across the country and took place just one working day after Conservative Transportation Minister Lawrence Cannon spoke with the Toronto Board of Trade.
Cannon assured the business community that the federal government was funding urban infrastructure through the $33-billion Building Canada fund and accused Mayor David Miller of standing in the way of infrastructure spending.
While the meeting with Miller and the Liberals was friendlier, no one would commit to Miller's long-standing demand, to hand a cent of the GST to municipalities.
"I know you're wanting to box us into this question, but the reality is that when you do the math, the Liberal Party has always been investing more than the number of just one cent of the GST," said Zed, the Liberals' cities, communities and infrastructure critic.
Miller seemed satisfied with the Liberals' position.
"This is an important signal to us that the Liberal Party of Canada at least considers Canada's major cities to be partners in supporting the country's interests," Miller said. "As Mr. Zed said, stay tuned. They haven't developed their platform yet but they've certainly said that permanent, sustained funding is what this is all about."
