WATCH: Montreal, Toronto join forces to grow cities together
TORONTO – A meeting between the mayors of Canada’s two largest cities began with a hand shake and ended with a promise to sign a cooperative agreement to enhance social well-being and economic growth within their respective municipalities.
The pledge was made after a 30-minute meeting between Mayor John Tory and his Montreal counterpart Denis Coderre at Toronto city hall Wednesday morning.
“Municipalities are not provincial creatures anymore,” Coderre told reporters during a joint press conference.
“It’s important that the two biggest cities work together, not only to share practices but learn from each other.”
The rendezvous was the first official meeting between the two municipal leaders since Tory assumed office last December.
The Montreal mayor is in town to address the Toronto Region Board of Trade on the benefits of a “new alliance” between the two cities.
“We are going to gain more as two cities,” said Tory. “Team work is going to produce wins for us both.”
Coderre has never made a trip to Toronto city hall during the years when Rob Ford was mayor.
READ MORE: ‘I didn’t shake his hand’: Montreal, Quebec City mayors criticize Rob Ford
In fact, both the mayor of Montreal and Quebec City had some harsh words for Ford at an annual meeting of Canada’s big city mayors in Ottawa last year.
Coderre told reporters he avoided contact with the scandel-ridden mayor and refused to shake his hand.
“He’s got the right to be there. But I don’t care about him; it’s a caucus not a circus,” Coderre said at the time.
With Ford now out of the picture, Coderre has invited Tory to Montreal to finalize a cooperative agreement and also to engage the federal government for more funding in a pivotal election year.
“If we want to have a win-win situation for Canada, they have to work in a better way, in a consistent way, with the cities,” said Coderre.
Tory and Coderre also agreed municipalities across the country should be united when asking for federal funds to support social, economic and infrastructure projects.
“I think the problem hasn’t been that they have ignored cities around Canada, but the kind of participation that we’ve been able to count on has not been consistent,” said Tory.
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