A new Parliament. A new focus on cities.

First of all, I want to offer my congratulations:

• To the people of Canada who exercised their democratic right and voted;
• To Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party for being elected to a majority government;
• To Jack Layton and the New Democratic Party for being elected to lead the official opposition; 
• To Elizabeth May and the Green Party because it's not easy to make history and have your first member elected to parliament; and 
• To all candidates and their teams of staff and volunteers--whether you won or lost yesterday, you should be commended on your efforts over the past month.

But now we have a new federal government, and with it comes new opportunities to work together to benefit the people of Canada--especially those 80 per cent of Canadians who live in cities. 

During the election, I expressed my disappointment that, for the most part, the parties were not discussing the urban agenda as much as they should.

But, yesterday proved that the road to a stable majority runs through our cities. The gains of the Conservatives are, in part, because they established political beachheads in the most of Canada's major cities. This tells me that the political importance of cities is starting the reflect the value cities bring to Canada as engines of growth.

So what's next?

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.

The new Parliament needs to back up their recent promises and commitments with action.

In the 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.

The NDP campaigned for a long-term housing strategy, permanent funding for front-line policing, and dedicated funding for public transit. I hope that the NDP-led Opposition will continue to push for these important initiatives.

Surprisingly, when it comes to cities, there is often more common ground between the parties than their campaigning would have you believe. Canadians do not simply want the Official Opposition to oppose, but to work constructively in Parliament and contribute to public policy. Opposition and Government must work together when they agree on issues to ensure we get solutions that address the needs of Canadians.

If there's anything we can gain from the election, it's that Canadians want results.

Many Canadians (and even some new parliamentarians) may be unaware that forty per cent of federal investments in municipalities will expire in the next 36 months. This includes federal investments in front-line policing, infrastructure, public transit, and affordable housing. The next Parliament will have to come to grips with the task of balancing our national budget, renewing funding that provides critical core services in municipalities, and investing in the future infrastructure of our country.

If our Parliament succeeds in following through on their commitments then Canadian cities and all Canadians will succeed.

So, let's get to work.

- Mayor Nenshi