Canada Votes - Your Interview

More than 80 per cent of Canadians live in major urban centres. Cities receive federal funding through the gas tax fund and other infrastructure initiatives. But the Federation of Canadian Municipalities says towns and cities are increasingly expected to do more with less. Glen Murray, a former mayor of Winnipeg, is president and CEO of the Canadian Urban Institute, a not-for-profit organization that carries out research and education on urban issues in Canada. The group's mission is to enhance the quality of life in urban areas in the country.

Murray has agreed to answer questions about cities and what they need.

Balancing a country's economy is not a job for the faint of heart. Even when times are good, there are many factors to consider, and decisions to be made. In Canada, the Bank of Canada is responsible for the "economic and financial well-being" of the country. The Bank is at arm's-length from the federal government, but is owned and watched over by the federal government, in the person of the finance minister.

How does that job work? And what can be done domestically when economies around the globe, and especially in the U.S., are in trouble?

John Manley is a former finance minister and deputy prime minister under then Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien. He now works in Ottawa as a lawyer for the firm McCarthy Tétrault. He answers your questions about how governments handle financial crises.