Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi came to the support of Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson Tuesday, saying he thinks the federal government is “scrambling” to figure out how to fund a new Broadway subway line.

With the election of John Tory in Toronto, Ottawa will now face a similar ask for financial support for a subway there. Vancouver, which is also one of Canada’s rising metropolitan “city states”, should also be at the top of that list, he said.

“Transportation has been by far the ballot box issue in Toronto. I am sure that Mr. Tory will find some sympathetic ears in Ottawa for funding his transit line,” said Nenshi, who was in Vancouver for a panel discussion on cities as nation builders.

“What this means is that there is an extraordinary opportunity for Vancouver in particular — and I am happy to ride Vancouver's coattails — to get its transit funding. That’s because Vancouver is in play in the next federal election.

“So I imagine there is a scramble right now in Ottawa precisely to figure out how to fund Vancouver's next Skytrain expansion. As a result that should help all of us because Canada remains the only G7 nation that doesn't have a national transit strategy.”

Vancouver and Toronto aren’t the only places that will benefit from this new and emerging status as city states, he said.

Nenshi pointed to his own city of Calgary, where he said Prime Minister Harper learned a sharp political lesson of where his power comes from.

“The prime minister, who is one of my constituents, spent a decade searching for his majority in Quebec. He didn't find his majority in Quebec. He found it in and around Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto,” Nenshi said.

“So like it or not, now the Conservatives are now an urban party. They just don't like admitting it to themselves. If you really are a smart political strategist going into the next federal election, you're no longer dividing the country up into regions . . . When you figure that out, you get your urban majority.”

Robertson and Nenshi share similar views about transportation, housing and sustainability. They developed a long and lasting friendship, based in part on Robertson's offer of logistical support to Nenshi when he was first elected.

Robertson, who after two terms of office is in the middle of a tough election race, agreed that Ottawa ignores Vancouver and Canada’s other major metropolitan areas at its peril.

“Vancouver and Toronto have huge transportation needs and we are well positioned to be influential in the next federal election,” Robertson said. “I am sure the next federal government will invest robustly in transit.”

The panel discussion was organized by Canada 2020, a group that bills itself as “Canada’s leading, independent, progressive think tank working to redefine the role of the federal government for a modern Canada.”

In addition to Nenshi and Robertson, it featured R.T. Rybak, the vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee and former mayor of Minneapolis, and Anne Golden, the chair of Evergreen CityWorks in Toronto.