"A funny thing happened on the way to the election."

I write a monthly column in the Calgary Herald. Here's the full text of my May article which ran after the federal election:

Well, that was interesting.

It seems that one of the dullest election campaigns ever was followed by one of the most exciting election nights. The question now, of course, is "where do we go from here?"

First, as I wrote in my blog this week, I think it's appropriate to start with some congratulations:

To Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party for their dogged discipline, in this campaign and over the last many years, to achieve this stunning victory. I'm proud that the Prime Minister of Canada is one of my constituents, a Calgarian who knows and understands this city well;

To Jack Layton and the New Democratic Party for their great achievement in becoming the official opposition -it's nice to see that old city council members can make something of themselves! Regardless of what one thinks about their policies, Layton showed an incredible grit and heart in this campaign, and captured the imaginations of many;

To Elizabeth May and the Green party because I know what it's like to be an underdog. It's not easy to make history and have your first member elected to Parliament;

To all candidates and their teams of volunteers--whether they won or lost, they were exhibiting the very best of citizenship--putting themselves out there, facing the naysayers and scorn and the mean people on the Internet, all because they want a better country; and

To the people of Canada who used their voice, who refused to succumb to cynicism and apathy, and, simply, who voted.

A funny thing happened on the way to the election. The Conservative Party, who had been doggedly searching for a majority all over the country, particularly in Quebec, found that majority in the most unlikely of places--in Canada's cities.

This isn't really that surprising. Eighty per cent of Canadians live in cities, after all. But, comparing the 2006 election to this one, it's clear that the Conservatives -who lost seats in Quebec on Monday -became the majority because of the beachheads they have established in cities. They always had them in Calgary and Edmonton, of course, but there is now Tory blue in Toronto, Vancouver and other big cities across the country.

It's no secret that during the election, I expressed my disappointment (including on this page) that, for the most part, the parties were not discussing the urban agenda as much as they should.

But, now that we know that the road to a stable majority runs through our cities, it's time to recognize their importance.

Beginning today, Canadians will be looking to their new federal government to protect core investments in their municipalities and build communities that have the resources to drive our economy and protect our quality of life. We expect that the new Parliament will make our cities priorities and take practical measures to meet the growing challenges we face.

In the proposed federal budget, the Conservative government promised to make permanent the gas tax transfer to cities (worth $58 million to Calgary in 2009-2010) and to work with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to develop a new, long-term infrastructure plan to replace the expiring Building Canada program. These should continue to be priorities because such assistance is needed and would be well-used by Canadian municipalities including Calgary.

But we do need to go further.

Canada remains the only industrialized country without a national transit strategy, and the last federal government program focused on transit ended in 2010. Investments in transit are good for everyone, whether you drive a vehicle or not. Good public transit -and we're getting better here in Calgary -reduces congestion and air pollution and is a major factor in improving the social fabric of our community.

It goes beyond transit, though. Here in Calgary we face a $2 billion deficit on social infrastructure like firehalls, rec facilities, parks and libraries. This is stuff we could fix and/or build today if we had the resources. Add in roads and LRT projects and we get closer to $10 billion.

Given that the city's entire operating budget is only about $2 billion a year (about $1 billion comes from property taxes), it's inconceivable that we can build the things that Calgarians need without the participation of the other levels of government.

I know that our new federal government understands that and I look forward to working with them to create solutions for all Canadians who live in cities.

- Mayor Naheed Nenshi