Current Developments
Building a New Canada: Meeting the Civic Challenges of Social Inclusion
Speeches
How Can the New Deal for Cities and Communities Strengthen the Social Infrastructure of Cities?
Presentation by Dr. Anne Golden, President and CEO, Conference Board of Canada
I am pleased to participate in this panel, though my emotions in doing so are mixed. On the one hand, as a passionate advocate
for a new urban agenda, I am happy to have any podium from which to make the case. On the other hand, I object on principle to
the title of this session. We’ve been asked to address the question of what the New Deal for Cities and Communities can do to
strengthen the social infrastructure of cities. My answer is that it can’t do nearly as much as it should, now that its mission
has been spread out over every town and hamlet in this country. Watering down the New Deal from its original focus on Canada’s
major cities is mistaken from many policy perspectives, including that of social inclusion.
The only way we’re going to meet the challenge of social inclusion in our cities and city-regions is by having the courage to zero
in on Canada’s largest cities, where the challenges of social inclusion are most pronounced. (Issues of aboriginal inclusion are
an exception, but even they are becoming increasingly urban in nature.) Whatever its political motivation, the decision to morph
the original “new deal for cities” into a “new deal for cities and communities” represents a real turning away from this challenge.
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Towards a New Social Deal for Cities and Communities in Canada
Presentation by Dr. Michael Bach, Executive Vice-President, Canadian Association for Community Living
The question for this session of the ‘Building A New Canada’ Conference is:
“How can the New Deal for Cities and Communities strengthen the social
infrastructure of cities and communities?” I think the clearest answer is we
don’t know yet because we don’t yet have any agreements for the “social
dimension” of the New Deal. Most of the bilateral Federal-Provincial/Territorial
Gas Tax Transfer agreements – which are seen as one of the main
instruments of the New Deal – imagine future discussions and agreements to
advance social cohesion and social infrastructure, but that is as far as they go.
Let me clarify what I mean. I think we need to distinguish the vision and broad
framework of the New Deal, from the funding mechanisms and agreements
established to date.
Read the rest of the speech in PDF format