They are intimately local and internationally important -- and yet they are chronically underfunded. They are home to 80 per cent of Canadians and account for more than half of the nation's wealth -- and yet they are not even officially recognized in federal-provincial discussions. They receive approximately 90 per cent of immigrants to our country -- and yet they have no say in national immigration policy.

"They" are Canada's cities and the subject of a comprehensive new study by the Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology.

The Committee will focus on five key aspects of cities:

- Social capacity (including such issues as poverty, housing, immigrant settlement and crime);

- Infrastructure;

- Environmental sustainability;

- Fiscal capacity; and

- Economic development and international competitiveness.

While our focus will be on Canada's largest cities, or city regions, many of the issues are the same ones faced by communities of every size, in every part of the country. Indeed, what is striking is the similarity of challenges facing communities from coast to coast.

Even in booming Calgary, there are strains on the transportation infrastructure and the rising cost of housing is exacerbating homelessness in the city. As mentioned in (the Herald) editorial of Nov. 20, entitled: Are you being served? "Nationally, Canada has 195 police officers per 100,000 population. Greater Calgary has just 153, leaving the city 10th in the country behind such peers as Winnipeg, Toronto, Halifax and Edmonton."

In an era where our cities are taking in more and more Canadians with each passing year, municipal politicians are left to prioritize between providing vital services, raising municipal taxes or simply ignoring emerging problems.

Why this study? And why now? While many of the issues facing today's cities have been the subject of reports by academics and non-governmental agencies as well as provincial and municipal governments, there has never been an attempt by a committee of Parliament to draw the best of this work together into a truly national vision for cities; to give them the place they deserve on the national public policy agenda.

Doing so is critical because the calibre of our cities will determine not only the quality of the lives we lead, but the kind of economic opportunities we can create.

As Professor Richard Florida correctly points out, "cities are a country's crucibles of competitiveness in the creative age. (They) promote economies of scale, incubate new technology and match human capital to opportunities, ideas to places and innovations to investment."

At a time when borders are collapsing and economies are increasingly built on ideas and innovation, competition for talent is no longer simply between nations, but among cities.

Those communities that have the ability to attract and retain creative workers, therefore, become the focus not only of local economic activity, but in a very real sense, the drivers of national prosperity. As a recent Conference Board of Canada report so succinctly concluded: "Canada's prosperity depends on the success of our major cities."

And yet, our thinking about cities, their role in the economy and their place in our federation continues to reflect a 19th-century perspective. They are still treated as the "poor cousins" of our national family; an afterthought of public policy.

More often than not, the resources at their disposal do not match the responsibilities at their doors. We continue to pay lip service to ensuring the success of our cities without taking the steps necessary to enable it. More is being demanded, but more is not being provided. And the cracks are starting to show.

Increasingly, poverty's home is in our major cities. Between 1990 and 1995, the number of people living in poverty in metropolitan areas grew by more than a third. In 2005, more than 150,000 people in our cities were homeless.

Cities are delivering more social services than ever before as other levels of government offload or download, but their sources of revenue have neither evolved nor increased. Municipalities continue to rely on property taxes for more than half of their revenue.

In the United States, cities receive less than a quarter of their revenues from property taxes.

Only eight per cent of all taxes collected by governments in Canada find their way into municipal coffers. At a time when federal and provincial surpluses are hitting record highs, cities must go cap in hand in search of help.

Basic infrastructure such as roads, sewers and public transportation is in desperate need of upgrading.

Some estimates put the "infrastructure deficit" at more than $60 billion -- and growing by $2 billion every year. More than $20 billion is needed for public transit services alone.

It is critical, therefore, that we re-think the role of cities in a modern society. It's time to make cities the centrepiece of our competitiveness policies; to understand both their challenges and potential.

Building cities that are hotbeds of innovation and magnets for talent should be a priority for all of us, wherever we may live. Our quality of life and future prosperity depends on it.

Senator Art Eggleton is chair of the Senate subcommittee on cities.

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