Mr. Speaker, in Canada, nation building is about building our cities into stronger economic engines and better homes, but instead of cities growing stronger, they face a crumbling future under a $100 billion municipal infrastructure deficit and a federal government that refuses to share its record surplus.
Last week, when they appealed to Ottawa for investment, the Conservative government effectively told our cities to get out of town. And now Mississauga's Hazel McCallion has told property taxpayers to expect huge tax increases to fill the funding void left by Canada's new government.
I call on the government to stop choosing short term vote buying over long term nation building and start funding the future by funding our cities.