Canada future prosperity depends on the success of its major cities, a report released Tuesday suggests.

"Citizens and leaders must realize that Canada has changed from a predominantly rural to an urban nation," says the study from the Conference Board of Canada, a non-profit, non-partisan organization. 

Transit key to keeping big cities liveable, says the study.
(CBC)

"Eighty per cent of Canadians live in urban areas; major cities account for 51 per cent of both gross domestic product and employment."

Failure to properly invest in Canada's six big cities — Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa-Gatineau, Calgary and Edmonton — could hurt productivity, the environment and the arts and culture scene.

Without proper investment, "neither our cities nor our economy will be globally competitive," it says.

Big cities face a number of significant challenges, including a growing funding squeeze, skyrocketing growth, aging infrastructure and a lack of government representation, the report says.

Urban Transportation	Use "carrot and stick" approach to promote a shift from cars to public transit; all levels of government must unite to develop a single plan; use alternative methods of funding for transit.
Infrastructure	Federal and provincial governments must end per-capita funding and fund on a needs basis; provinces and federal government should reclaim their off-loaded services; governments, the private sector and voluntary sector must pool resources to tackle the problem of infrastructure.
Environmentally Sound Growth	Develop new ways to deal with waste; use fiscal tools such as charging higher wastewater disposal fees and solid waste tipping fees to support environmentally sound practices; review and change regulations to support industrial ecology by permitting the development and use of by-products created from waste.
Housing	Provincial and federal governments increase their investments in affordable housing in Canada’s major cities.

Canadian municipalities receive less than 12 per cent of total government revenues, the study says, yet bear the costs of services that have been off-loaded by federal and provincial governments.

Growth in the big cities is also expected to skyrocket, causing stress on the country's aging infrastructure. Much of the country's transit, road, water and sewer systems are approaching the end of their 50-year lifespan, it says.

"If development patterns in our big cities continue as anticipated, billions of dollars of new infrastructure will be required."

Urban expansion is leaving an increasingly large environmental footprint, the study warns.

"Social and economic decisions — such as how urban industrial activity is designed and carried out, what becomes of its waste products, how the goods produced are linked into regional and global supply chains, and how city residents live and travel — have significant impacts on the environment that sustains us," it says.

Cities should be better represented in federal-provincial talks, the report says. Big cities have a member of Parliament for every 107,518 people, while the rest of Canada has an MP for every 94,882 people.

"Canada, like other societies, has transformed itself from a rural to an overwhelmingly urban society, but we are living with architecture built for our earlier rural past— an architecture that fits badly with the new urban Canada," it said.

9 'hub' cities

Called "Mission Possible: Successful Canadian Cities," the report says investment in nine "hub" cities (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Halifax, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary and Edmonton)  will cause spin-off benefits to surrounding areas.

"Economic growth in each of the nine Canadian 'hub' cities generates an even faster rate of economic growth in other communities in their province or region," the report says. "Increasing resources allocated to major cities would have a substantial impact on accelerating national economic growth."

Cities need affordable housing, transit and infrastructure to continue to attract vibrant, young people in order to become centres of design, culture, architecture and arts, it says.

Without this, Canada is "unlikely to sustain the arts and culture that are so important to Canadian identity," it says. 

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said he agrees with the report's conclusions.

"As difficult as it may be to admit for prime ministers and premiers alike, the fact of the matter is our cities have become our centres of innovation and wealth generation," McGuinty said. "We've got to realign this in a way that suits Canadians."

With files from the Canadian Press