Speeches

Notes provided for an address
by the Honourable John Godfrey, P.C., M.P.
Minister of State (Infrastructure and Communities)

to SmarthGrowth Canada Network Conference

Ottawa, Ontario
March 11, 2005

Check Against Delivery

Of course, I am strongly supportive of the reason you are here – to develop course materials that will more widely advance the implementation of Smart Growth principles.

But we are more than just mutual supporters or comrades-in-arms within the sustainability movement.  We are blood relatives in the sense that the Smart Growth agenda is the New Deal agenda. 

We both share the same objective – creating sustainable communities.  And to that end, we both want to facilitate real, tangible and purposeful change in making sustainable development an integral part of our communities and our collective national life.

But the New Deal is something else as well.  It represents the federal government working in partnership with others to bring about transformative change.  It’s also about national objectives shared locally in the places where Canadians live.

Smart Growth principles and the New Deal stem from a significant shift in public attitudes that has occurred over the past few decades.  This shift in attitudes is reflective of the fact that most Canadians today – some 80 percent as you well know – are living in urban environments. 

For example, there is pronounced concern today about matters relating to unchecked urban growth and sprawl.  These are more than aesthetic concerns.  Servicing far-flung suburbs and “exurbs” is becoming an increasingly expensive proposition.

There is a concern that we are losing a sense of community in our communities.  This goes back to the pioneering work of Jane Jacobs, which continues to be relevant. 

Each day we see more evidence of the negative effects of commuting.  Now there is medical evidence that it can be hazardous to your health.  Moreover, we are surrounded by signs of environmental degradation and a further decline of the visual landscape.

Running through all of these concerns is the presence of the automobile.  One of the major challenges we face in the sustainability movement is to puncture the notion – an illusory one – that the suburbs provide the kind freedom people are looking for.

But we also have to be realistic.  We don’t have public transit everywhere in this country.  There are many people who simply must travel considerable distances by automobile for work or for other purposes.  To be effective, both Smart Growth principles and the New Deal must work within often conflicting paradigms. 

I’ve had a chance to look at some of the questions you will be tackling in your working groups.  There is no doubt this is going to be a valuable exercise.  So what I want to do for you today is provide some context, in particular a political and public policy context to your activities.

In my view, we have reached a crucial juncture in the policy consideration of our cities and communities.  This is also the case with matters pertaining to sustainability and climate change.  It is important for you to factor these larger considerations into your Smart Growth deliberations.  Because they are going to affect the urgency with which Canadians address the issues you are discussing.

So where are we?

As an historian, I tend to look at things in terms of the bigger picture.  I believe we have reached a point where three urgent agendas have come together.  These are the infrastructure agenda, the cities and communities agenda and the sustainability agenda. 

The infrastructure agenda is one of the oldest agendas of the federal government.  Infrastructure brought the country together, whether it was the Rideau Canal or the railways across Canada and so on.

That continued to be true in the 20th century, with things like the Trans Canada Highway, the St. Lawrence Seaway and electrical grids and telephone systems.  There was the need to build post offices and federal buildings to bring services to Canadians.

Infrastructure has become a significant point of entry for us into the cities and communities agenda because of the enormous infrastructure gap faced by them.

On that score, just look at where we are today compared to just a few years ago.

Our government showed last year in the budget that we were serious about the cities agenda through a GST rebate which is worth $7 billion over ten years.  In Budget 2005, we confirmed that we would provide $5 billion through the gas tax over and above our existing infrastructure programs.

In addition to gas tax revenue sharing, Budget 2005 commits to renewing the Canada Strategic Infrastructure Fund, the Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund and the Border Infrastructure Fund.  It also more than doubles funding for the Green Municipal Funds administered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities with an additional $300 million.

Altogether, this represents an historically unprecedented federal investment in Canada’s cities and communities.  This has occurred because the importance of their sustainable development to the centrality of our prosperity and way of life has been recognized.

The third agenda is the sustainability agenda.  In this area, meeting the challenges of climate change and Kyoto implementation are currently front and centre.  But the sustainability agenda involves more than environmental considerations.  It involves cultural as well as economic, social and environmental factors.

The health of our communities in all of these areas is important if we are to create truly sustainable places in which to live. 

All three of these agendas are at work behind the New Deal for Canada’s Cities and Communities.  They also come together in the emphasis we are giving in our funding programs to environmentally sustainable municipal infrastructure.

But what is important about this confluence of agendas is the opportunity it is providing for transformative change.  Transformative change as a result of collaborative decisions, as a result of the innovative relationships we develop and as a result of the long-term planning we undertake.

In all of this, it is critical that we collaborate in developing a shared vision.  This is why in launching the New Deal, the Prime Minister also created the External Advisory Committee for Cities and Communities under the chairmanship of Mike Harcourt, with expert representation from across the country.

It is clear that unlike any other time in Canadian history, governments at all levels are taking a serious, holistic and urgent view of the sustainability of our cities and communities.  It has sunk in that our future is at stake.

So from your perspective, this is a great time to be in the business of advancing Smart Growth principles.

But we’ve got some huge challenges.

While public attitudes have changed, many Canadians are still wedded to practices that advance urban sprawl.  Moreover, we have a distance to go in achieving more permanent action on the ground. 

For example, there are roughly 5,600 municipalities in Canada today.  Of these, only about 100 are pursuing long-term sustainability in a formal, organized fashion. 

Of these 100, only about 10 have what I would consider to be rigorous, long-term plans for meeting these goals, or what you would call “Smart Growth Strategy blueprints”. 

So let’s not kid ourselves.  While Canada has made considerable progress in these areas, there is still a distance to go and it’s going to take some time.

But there is also tremendous opportunity here – a huge market, if you will, for the course materials you are developing.

In this regard, if there is one piece of advice I would urge upon you, it is the importance of thinking through your objectives with an eye to the longer haul.  I would urge a strategy of considering the Smart Growth needs of communities not only for the immediate future, but for farther down the road. 

We have learned this in developing infrastructure programs.  And as I remarked at the beginning, the Smart Growth agenda is the New Deal agenda.  

Once again, I applaud your efforts.  My department is available to assist you in your endeavours and I wish you the best of luck.

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