Martin sensitive to municipal issues
June 26 By Martin C. Barry
Federal Liberal leadership front-runner Paul Martin is sympathetic to the
needs of Canadian municipalities, says Westmount Borough Councillor Cynthia
Lulham.
Back home from a five-day annual general conference held recently by the
Federation of Canadian Municipalities in Winnipeg, Lulham said in an
interview with The Examiner that Martin has shown signs of concern for the
country¹s many cities and towns.
"Paul Martin does seem to have a clear idea of the need for money at the
municipal level for infrastructure improvement," she said.
Lulham noted the involvement in FCM activities in recent years by certain
federal politicians, including NDP leader Jack Layton, a former Toronto city
councillor and past president of the FCM, and Martin, the country¹s former
finance minister who is now widely seen as most likely to succeed Prime
Minister Jean Chrétien as leader of the federal Liberal party.
All in all, the FCM¹s push for the last year, which is when Jack Layton was
their president, has been to have more involvement from the government for
supporting infrastructure of cities,² she said. Besides Martin and Layton,
other federal politicians who have been involved in dialogue with the FCM
have included cabinet ministers David Collenette and Sheila Copps.
Asked if Layton¹s involvement in federal politics could provide greater
leverage in Ottawa for Canadian municipalities, Lulham replied: That¹s
true. Unfortunately, though, I don¹t think his party¹s going to really pull
that much weight and that¹s unfortunate.²
Concerning the involvement with the FCM of Martin, who addressed the
organization¹s annual meeting last year, Lulham said: Paul Martin... was
very supportive of federal support for cities, in so much as he even said in
his speech last year about having the cities at the (federal) budget table.
Of course that wouldn¹t bode well with the provinces.²
Lulham was one of more than 45 delegates at the conference representing
municipalities across Quebec. While participation by Quebec in the FCM was
low only a few years ago, not only has it now reached an all-time high, but
the FCM¹s new leader is Yves Ducharme, mayor of the West Quebec
municipality of Gatineau.
³Yves Ducharme being elected president was a very proud moment for our Quebec delegation,² she said. The
Union des Municipalités de Québec (UMQ) also sent
representatives.
According to Lulham, the problems with decaying water works and other kinds
of infrastructure currently being experienced in the Montreal region are
shared by many other municipalities across the country. ³Infrastructure
problems exist in almost all of the older cities of Canada and some of the
newer ones,² she said.
The FCM represents more than a thousand municipalities from all over Canada.
Lulham currently sits on the FCM¹s transportation committee dealing with
issues involving train lines and other modes of public transit which affect
residents of municipalities. She was also recently appointed a member of a
second committee which received a federal grant to create a reference tool
to be known as the ŒCanadian Guide to Municipal Infrastructure‹Transit¹.
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