A NATIONAL URBAN POLICY FOR CANADA? PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES.

This paper reviews the work of the Prime Minister's Caucus Task Force on Urban Issues which reported in November 2002. It outlines the current federal role in urban policy, describes earlier attempts to articulate a national policy, particularly through the short lived Ministry of State for Urban Affairs in the seventies, and examines the recommendations of the Task Force in the light of contemporary challenges. The reports of the Task Force adopt the new regionalist discourse of competitiveness uncritically. The recommendations of the final report are judged reasonable so far as they go. However, some of the more worrying problems of urban areas that are within federal jurisdiction, notably increasing urban poverty, are neglected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]