Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the panel.
The City of Selkirk is pleased to have the opportunity to make a presentation to the committee. I wish to thank the government for allowing us this input into the 2010 budget considerations.
While there are many items of importance in this great country, the City of Selkirk wishes to focus on three main topics: public transportation, the municipal infrastructure deficit, and affordable housing and homelessness. All of these topics form the foundation of a municipal government's responsibility of creating a quality of place within its community. Therefore, it is important that all levels of government work together to ensure that Canada's economic engines retain their competitive edge through the proper investments in transportation, infrastructure, and housing.
Although there are many other opportunities to invest in the quality of life of every Canadian, these three components will touch all. As stated by FCM past president Jean Perrault, “Every day, as mayors and councillors, we see what needs to be done in our communities, but too often we do not have the resources to do it. We also know this is not just a problem for our individual community; it is a national problem.”
Municipalities receive only 8¢ from each tax dollar collected. With this, each municipality must deal with responsibilities--for example, roads, water and waste water infrastructures, solid waste management, recreation, and protective services, both police and fire--and are faced with affordable housing issues. Municipalities are depended upon to deliver the basic services that our communities rely on every day. They provide the public infrastructure that supports economic activity and job creation, and they deliver front-line services to meet continuous new and growing challenges.
Due to receiving just 8¢ out of every tax dollar collected, municipalities struggle to supply these services because they lack the resources needed to succeed, therefore forcing them to rely on the property taxpayer for the new responsibilities and our ever-growing needs.
In addition to supplying these services, municipalities have taken the lead role in the federal government's stimulus plan. As municipalities are required to balance their budgets each year, unlike federal and provincial governments, the cost of participating in the stimulus program must be paid immediately, either by raising taxes, cutting spending or services, or borrowing.
To that end, the City of Selkirk is requesting your government to take action on the following priority items.
Number one is public transportation. Safe and reliable public transportation is the only universally acceptable form of transport that provides economic, social, and environmental benefits. Canadian transit riders pay a higher percentage of total costs required to build, maintain, and operate transit than do riders in almost all other western countries.
Almost every transit system in the world requires financial support to offset the shortfall of expenses and revenues raised from fares. Canada's transit systems require more than $40 billion in investment to cover the next five years of operation alone, which will cause rehabilitation, replacement, and expansion projects, thus increasing numbers of riders.
Local governments, which already make up the majority of Canada's transit investments, do not have the revenue source to meet the current and future demands. Canada needs a long-term federally funded national transit strategy. As a first step, the federal government must review and extend dedicated transit funding set to expire in the year 2009.
The next item is the municipal infrastructure deficit. Given the estimated $123 billion municipal infrastructure deficit and a very limited source of revenues, municipal governments need help to deliver services that the nation's economy, quality of life, and environmental sustainability rely on. Recent federal government initiatives for municipal infrastructure funding are very important, very much appreciated, and must be sustained, but we need to concentrate on longer-term predictable commitments from all levels of government.
With the cooperation of all three levels of government, the federal government has to produce a plan of action to reduce or eliminate the infrastructure deficit within 20 years. As well, the federal gas tax fund should be indexed to protect its purchasing power against inflation, population growth, and economic expansion.
Finally, on housing and homelessness, with thousands of Canadians struggling to find affordable places to live, the federal government needs a renewed funding commitment and a national housing plan. In this age, too many Canadians are forced to decide between food or rent, necessities for their children or making the mortgage payment. A well-housed population with affordable shelter costs enables individuals to participate more productively in the economy.
This comes from the FCM 2008 national action plan on housing and homelessness:
The CREA has estimated that every existing home sold stimulates on average $32,000 in spending and income. This includes transaction fees...moving costs and spending on new furnishings and renovations. This spending is recycled into the economy and subject to taxation. This impact may be somewhat moderated in the recommended assisted ownership option as this targets lower priced homes. However, it will still likely generate at least half ($16,000 per unit) of this estimated impact.
The federal government should immediately adopt the recommendations of the FCM 2008 national plan on homelessness and housing--