Toronto Mayor David Miller has slammed yesterday's federal budget as a "missed opportunity," saying it overlooks the fundamental role of cities, particularly Toronto, in maintaining a strong economy.

Toronto Mayor David Miller was looking for new money in yesterday's budget for capital costs to replace old buses and subways.
(Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

"My view of this budget is it's not about investment in cities, and it doesn't recognize that the fundamental nature of Canada has changed," he said.

Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty on Tuesday announced a $500 million cash infusion for construction-ready public transit projects, meaning initiatives either already announced or those with municipal commitments that were to be made by the end of March.

The mayor said the money, which will help fund the re-establishment of a rail link between Peterborough, Ont., and Union Station, was largely focused on support for Peterborough, Montreal and Vancouver.

He said $500 million worth of transit funding could easily be used in Toronto alone.

"This was a tremendous opportunity to invest in the transportation infrastructure of the Toronto region. And at a time of economic uncertainty, that investment would itself be good for the economy," said Miller.

"A one-off payment in the range of tens of millions of dollars, while of course we would welcome it, doesn't make much of a dent in the challenges we face."

Many of the programs aimed at cities for things like roads and transit are pots of money that have to be shared by all cities across Canada. Considering Toronto's pivotal role in the country's economy, the city was underrepresented in yesterday's budget literature, Miller said.

"As far as I can tell, Toronto's mentioned twice — at the end of a Peterborough to Toronto rail link and for a pilot project in housing. That doesn't befit a nation that's going to succeed in a 21st century economy," he said.

Miller's views 'insular': Flaherty

A fair federal budget would have recognized Toronto as a hub of economic activity in Canada that makes up 10 per cent of the country's economy, the mayor said.

"That's far more than the impact that New York has on the United States, for example," he said. "And a federal budget should recognize that."

Speaking to the media after a speech in Toronto Wednesday, Flaherty hailed the transit funding as a strategy that will help get cars off the road in the GTA, easing gridlock and its impact on the environment.

He rebuffed Miller's criticisms, saying the mayor's views were "insular" and overly focused on the negative to the exclusion of positive developments in southern Ontario.

"It's also too bad that he has an isolationist's view, quite frankly, that he always looks only at the 416 [area code region] and fails to look at the 905 and what is really happening in southern Ontario, and that is that we are having a great development of an urban centre," Flaherty said. 

Miller did applaud the federal government for including a permanent gas tax in the budget, as well as money for mental health pilot projects.