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As we near the conclusion of this election campaign, I’m left wondering what we have accomplished. Unlike some recent elections that were Seinfeldian because they weren’t about anything, this federal election has been about altogether too many things.

They’ve either been the wrong thing — irrelevant, angry debates about a cloth square — or the right thing, framed in impossibly partisan terms. The Syrian refugee crisis should have united us as Canadians rather than divided us.

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It’s into this environment that Canada’s big city mayors have attempted to bring some focus on areas that really matter, and where the parties have different points of view: how do we reduce congestion and cut peoples’ commutes? How do we help Canadians have a decent place to live? How can we build the infrastructure we need to make sure our cities can continue to attract investment that creates jobs?

That’s why, on behalf of Calgary city council, I once again launched the Cities Matter survey during this election, asking all major political parties to commit to their promises regarding cities. It’s a big survey — 24 questions — and the four major parties have put a lot of time and effort into their responses, which are posted verbatim at citiesmatter.ca.