19 June 2006
Vancouver, BC
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Introduction
Thank you for your warm welcome.
Greetings to our local hosts, Mayor Sullivan and Premier Campbell.
And welcome to all our international guests, particularly
- Madam Under-Secretary Tibaijuka
- And Vice-Presidents De Castro and Shein.
I’m pleased to have this opportunity to address the third session of the world urban forum,
- Where we can share ideas and plan action to make our cities successful, sustainable and safe.
Our government recognizes that Canada’s cities are attracting greater numbera of people from rural communities who move to larger urban centres to take advantage of economic opportunities.
Urbanization is an irresistible phenomenon.
Perhaps the most important trend of our time is the mass migration of people from rural to urban environments.
This exodus has been occurring in the developed world for two centuries;
- Now it’s gathering momentum in the developing world.
Many of the migrating millions realize their dreams and build better lives for themselves, their families and their communities.
For others, the road to the city leads to poverty, homelessness and tragedy.
But the migration continues
- Because urbanization is a powerful, irresistible phenomenon.
There is a nostalgic perspective that see cities as too big, too crowded, too impersonal.
Yet throughout history, great cities have been a hallmark of successful societies.
As the late Canadian urban visionary Jane Jacobs noted:
- “Whenever and wherever societies have flourished and prospered rather than stagnated and decayed, creative and workable cities have been at the core of the phenomenon.”
This is a timeless truth. The health of our societies is driven by the health of our cities.
And the challenge for policymakers like us is to keep our cities healthy and strong.
This is especially true for Canada because we are, contrary to our traditional image, largely an urban nation.
A hundred years ago, Canada was a predominantly rural nation of just over 6 million people.
The population of Vancouver itself was less than 30,000.
Today, 80 per cent of our 33 million citizens live in urban centres. And this city-region is our third largest, with a population of 2.2 million.
Of course, rural towns and villages continue to be vital economic and social hubs for tens of thousands of family farms across the country.
The same is true of countless small communities dotting our northern frontier. They support our natural resource industries
- Our mines, oil and gas fields, fisheries and forests.
The Canadian identity was born in these places.
In just four centuries, Canada has passed from unsettled wilderness through the agrarian and industrial revolutions and arrived in the information age.
It began with Canada’s first peoples forming a commercial partnership with the great powers of Renaissance Europe, England and France.
Together they mapped half a continent, turned its watersheds into trade routes, and erected the first settlements.
With industrialization came the railroad and rapid economic growth.
Huge waves of settlers from across Europe and around the world followed.
They tamed the land for agriculture, began exploiting the awesome potential of the country’s natural resources, and laid the foundations for the great cities of today.
This unique blending of cultures and geography has created one of the most diverse, harmonious and successful societies on earth.
One of my predecessors once said, “Canada has too much geography and too little history.”
I disagree. I think we have a very rich history, and we owe much of it to our vast geography.
Our wide open spaces inspired Canadians to think big.
The wildness and emptiness of the country engendered hard work and self-reliance.
And the natural resource wealth of our land taught Canadians to be generous, not covetous.
Today, two-thirds of us live in cities of 100,000 or more.
And most work in post-industrial jobs far removed from the resource sector.
But we treat our cities much the way our ancestors treated the frontiers.
We think big about their potential;
- We work hard to make them grow and prosper;
- And we generously share them with newcomers from around the world.
The result, I’m proud to say, is that Canada’s cities are widely recognized as among the best in the world.
That may sound boastful, but I’m not alone in this view.
Last year, the economist magazine named Vancouver, Toronto and my hometown of Calgary to its top ten list of major cities in the world.
Calgary finished tenth on the list.
Toronto ranked ninth, and Vancouver ranked first.
Three cities in the top 10.
- That’s quite an accomplishment.
- And quite a challenge to keep them there.
Like all renewable resources, they must be carefully tended for future generations.
Canada understands this.
We recognize the critical economic and cultural importance of cities in the modern world.
And we know our nation’s future depends on enlightened urban statecraft.
What does this entail?
Academic theorists have spilled oceans of ink asserting formulas for “sustainable urbanization.”
But while policymakers do influence the fates of their cities – for good and ill – the reality is that healthy cities are built from the ground up.
The foundations of healthy cities are found in healthy neighbourhoods.
And the foundations of healthy neighbourhoods are healthy families.
Healthy cities have voluntary, neighbourhood-based groups at the very core of their political organization.
They’re variously known as “community leagues” or “community associations.”
Service clubs and faith- and school-based volunteer organizations perform similar functions.
Their activities include:
- Fund-raising for recreational projects.
- Organizing social gatherings.
- Producing community newsletters.
- Negotiating with property developers.
- Watching our for children.
- Helping police fight crime.
- And – of course – fighting city hall.
From these activities come the priorities and personnel of local government:
• The men and women who serve as mayors and councillors,
- Who build the streets and sidewalks,
- Provide potable water and public transit,
- Operate libraries and landfills,
- And keep the parks and playgrounds clean and green.
And, of course, these building blocks give rise to the goals and successes of our provinces, our territories and, ultimately, our country.
The founders of our confederation wrote into our constitution the values of “peace, order and good government.”
These values speak to the compromises and sacrifices that are necessary to ensure social harmony and economic progress.
We accept that fair taxes, the responsible exercise of personal freedom and a commitment to community and volunteerism are modest prices to pay for a country – and cities - that work.
Are Canada’s cities perfect?
- Of course not.
Like all countries around the world, we struggle with issues such as drug abuse, family breakdown, homelessness, poverty and crime.
These problems did not crop up overnight. And we have no quick and inexpensive solutions.
But Canada’s new government is determined to address these problems.
That is why our new government made strengthening cities such a top priority in the first months of our mandate.
We are committed to ensuring that Canada’s cities remain some of the best places in the world to live, work and invest in.
For Canada’s new national government a critical part of strengthening our cities is making sure they have the resources they need to serve their citizens.
This means working to restore the fiscal and jurisdictional balance between the three levels of government.
A decade ago, our federal government finally eliminated its enormous budgetary deficits,
- But it did so mainly by reducing transfers and downloading responsibilities to the provinces. The provinces often did the same in turn to their municipalities.
The consequence was a decade in which the federal government racked up enormous, often unplanned surpluses.
While the provinces and municipalities struggled to provide core services without going into debt.
Our government is committed to fixing this imbalance.
The fiscal imbalance issue is clear.
And I am pleased to note that we have already made substantial headway.
We have increased transfers and cut taxes giving other levels of government more resources and additional tax room so they have access to the revenues they need to serve their citizens.
For example, we have extended two fiscal transfer programs we long advocated.
The five cent per litre share of the federal gas tax, coupled with the GST rebate on municipal expenditures, will deliver $7.1 billion to Canada’s municipalities over the next four years.
We’re also taking action to address the growing infrastructure deficit.
Our first federal budget committed an unprecedented $16.5 billion in long-term, stable funding to improve the infrastructure of Canada’s communities.
And nearly $600 million will be spent here in British Columbia to support Canada’s Asia-Pacific gateway initiative.
These funds will upgrade roads, bridges and port facilities that link our economy to fast-growing Asian markets.
Roads, highways and bridges are important to our economic success. But we all know that cities must be environmentally sustainable.
They need clean air, pure water and green space.
Canada’s cities are already deemed to be among the cleanest and greenest in the world.
We are determined not only that they stay that way
- but that they become even better.
And that is what our budget and our government is all about
– tangible results and real improvements.
That’s why our budget invests $2 billion in infrastructure funding for environmental projects such as waste water treatment, flood mitigation and public transit.
And, to encourage Canadians to use their cars less often, our government is also providing generous tax credits for the users of public transit.
This will help ease traffic congestion and improve urban air quality.
We have also reached an agreement with the provinces to set a national target of 5 per cent biofuel content in Canadian gasoline and diesel fuel by 2010.
Increasing the use of cleaner-burning renewable biofuel made from corn or grain is another part of our “made-in-Canada” plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
But it is not enough that our cities be successful and sustainable. They must also be safe.
Canada’s cities have enjoyed a well-deserved reputation as some of the safest in the world.
Recently, this reputation has been tarnished by the growth of violent crime related to gangs, guns and drugs.
Our government takes crime seriously.
Effective policing is extremely important to Canadians.
Now more than ever, given the rise in drug- and gang-related crimes on our streets.
Innocent bystanders are gunned down on Yonge Street, street racing is claiming lives in Vancouver,
And criminal biker gangs plague Ontario and Quebec.
In Parliament we’ve brought forth legislation to end conditional sentences - so-called house arrest – for serious crimes and to implement mandatory prison sentences for violent crimes involving firearms.
We’ve just brought in legislation to crack down on street racing, a worsening problem that is claiming too many innocent victims.
But we also recognize that most crime originates in neighbourhoods blighted by joblessness, poverty and broken families.
Failed neighbourhoods are like failed states;
- They are breeding grounds for criminality and violence.
That’s why our budget also provides communities with $50 million to launch programs aimed at giving young people alternatives to guns, gangs and violence.
Another key to a safe and successful urban environment is affordable housing.
Thanks to Canada’s vibrant economy, the real estate markets in most of our major cities are booming.
In just the past year, the average home price in Calgary has climbed more than 30%. In Vancouver, it’s up over 20%.
That’s good news for those who are already homeowners,
- but not necessarily for young people, new immigrants and low-income Canadians who yearn to buy a home.
If our cities are to succeed and prosper, we must find ways to provide housing that meets the needs of people at all income levels.
We are also investing in affordable housing for urban and rural communities alike.
Our budget provides up to $1.4 billion to help provincial and territorial governments deliver affordable housing.
Up to $300 million is specifically targeted for Aboriginal people who are increasingly leaving their reserves to seek a better life in our cities.
Of course, in our modern world, sadly, the most serious challenge of all is the threat of terrorism that casts an ominous shadow over all our cities throughout the world.
Thanks to our superb domestic security forces, Canada has been spared the horrors visited on New York, London, Madrid and other cities.
But the recent arrests of 17 people in southern Ontario on charges related to terrorism have reminded us that the potential for hate-fuelled violence in Canada is very real.
And it is led to some commentary to the effect that Canada’s open and culturally diverse society makes us a more vulnerable target for terrorist activity.
I believe that exactly the opposite is true.
Canada’s diversity, properly nurtured, is our great strength.
Visit almost any city in this country and you’ll find a Chinatown, a Little Italy, a French Quarter or an East Indian commercial and residential enclave.
These and many more reflect the amazing ethnic diversity of Canada.
But they flourish because they are not isolated from the larger community.
On the contrary, the shops in Chinatown and the restaurants in Little Italy attract people from all over.
We have avoided ghettoization – the bane of urban existence in so many other places – the impoverished, crime-ridden, ethnically-polarized no-go zones.
It is true that, somewhere in some community, we will find the apostles of terror – people who use the symbols of culture or faith to justify crimes of violence.
They hate open, diverse and democratic societies like ours because they want the exact opposite, a society that is closed, homogeneous and dogmatic.
But they and their vision will be rejected,
- Rejected by men and women of generosity and goodwill in all communities
- And rejected most strongly by those men and women in the very community they claim to represent
- As we have already seen in Canada since those arrests.
Because what defines Canada – this country and its cities - is a land of opportunity where everyone – regardless of their ethnicity or religion – works and lives and succeeds together
A place in which where you are going matters more than where you came from.
Our government will do all we can to make our society secure and ensure that terrorism finds no comfort in Canada.
And we will do so by preserving and strengthening the cultural diversity that makes us strong.
Ladies and gentlemen, I hope the ideas I’ve shared with you today – and the ideas you will glean from other speakers at this conference – will be helpful in addressing the challenges we all face in the years ahead.
And I hope you will take note of Canada’s success in creating healthy urban environments.
Canada’s cities are not perfect,
But our track record over the past century shows that Canadians are remarkably skilled at building cities.
Building cities that are attractive and welcoming for people looking for a better future for themselves and their families.
Our cities remain, of course, works-in-progress.
Which means that, as we continue welcoming our share of the world’s migrating millions,
- We will continue working to make our cities safer, cleaner and more prosperous than ever.
So that Canada can continue to be what it has always been
- A place of opportunity for all and a hopeful example to the world of how disparate peoples can work together to achieve a peaceful, orderly and well-governed society.
Thank you.
And welcome to Vancouver, British Columbia and Canada.
