Paul Dewar goes urban

The NDP leadership candidate has announced the broad points of his urban agenda.

Dewar committed to ensuring a seat at the table for municipalities in federal-provincial/territorial negotiations dealing with their interests. He also committed to guaranteeing an additional cent of the existing gas tax to provide municipalities with stable, long-term infrastructure funding.

The federal government currently transfers $2 billion in gas tax revenues to municipalities. An additional cent of the gas tax would equal, by the Dewar campaign’s estimate, another $500 million. But the gas tax promise was included in the last NDP election platform, so this might not differentiate Mr. Dewar in any particular way.