The changing voice of Canada's cities

This week brings together Canada's Big City Mayors (BCMC) in Edmonton just prior to the Annual meeting of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM).

The BCMC meets a couple of times each year, and is a hugely interesting group of political leaders. After a transformative few years, the BCMC is having an increasing impact in Canada.

I was elected Mayor just two and a half years ago. The day after I was sworn in I attended my first BCMC meeting in Ottawa. The Mayors of Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Quebec City didn't attend. Other Mayors were facing allegations of questionable conduct (see the new book  Mayors Gone Bad  for more on that) and when we faced the media as a group most of the questions dealt with the conduct of municipal officials in Canada. While I enjoyed meeting fellow Mayors like Gregor Robertson of Vancouver, Jim Watson of Ottawa, and Naheed Nenshi of Calgary , Hazel McCallion of Mississauga and others, there was no question that something was missing.

Today is a much different landscape. In that short time we have seen new Mayors elected in cities like Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Mississauga, Brampton, Laval, London and Windsor. Most of the new Mayors have experience at other levels of government and are committed to ensuring that the growing importance and influence of cities is reflected in public policy at all levels.This reflects a trend that I speak to frequently.

The traditional route of aspiring politicians has been to start as a municipal politician (perhaps school board or a councillor), move to provincial or perhaps federal politics. Today we see politicians leaving provincial or federal politics to run for Mayor. Denis Coderre resigned from Parliament to win the Mayoralty in Montreal. Olivia Chow resigned from Parliament to run for Mayor of Toronto which she lost to John Tory, former provincial party leader. Jim Watson (Ottawa), Gregor Robertson (Vancouver), Bonnie Crombie (Mississauga), Linda Jeffrey (Brampton) are all former members of other legislative bodies. Here in NS Cecil Clarke, Don Downe and I are all former provincial or federal politicians. Others continue to who follow the traditional route but unquestionably there has been a change, and it reflects the growing importance of Canada's cities.

This week we will be meeting with senior Parliamentary representatives of each major party, including Party leaders. That the parties dedicate such effort to meet with a group of Mayors is remarkable and would have been unimaginable a short time ago. We have been working for a year on our federal advocacy preparing for the election of the fall.

Today's Mayors are a reformist, progressive group who will influence the direction of Canada collectively, as well as our individual cities. It is an exciting group to work with and it increases the already effective work of FCM.

Even in NS we see a new respect for municipal politics and a growing willingness to partner by other levels of government. In the last Provincial election our Halifax Regional Council invited each Party to come and discuss ideas on a way forward in Provincial-Municipal relations. One of those who took the time to come in person was the now Premier Stephen McNeil. He spoke of a true partnership. While we recognize the difficult financial situation of our Province we are working toward a more mature relationship that will benefit the whole Province.

The municipal landscape is changing, giving rise to new voices from Canada’s largest cities. Together, these voices will be make a big difference as we continue to discuss our country's future.