Sherman Kreiner, president and CEO of the Crocus Investment Fund, is among a group of 15 people from across the country selected to advise Prime Minister Paul Martin on the creation of a new deal for Canadian municipalities.

Kreiner said he was honored by the appointment and is enthusiastic about the challenge that he believes is a genuine request for his and the other members' opinions rather than to just behave as a "cipher" for the government's policies.

"I see this as a real opportunity to make a contribution and provide some bridge between the public and private sector, the bureaucrats and the outsiders," he said. "Our task is to try to come up with a long term vision for cities for the five-,10-,15-, 30-year timeframes and to come up with policy initiatives to accomplish that vision."

Kreiner said he believes it was because of the efforts of Winnipeg Mayor Glen Murray that the issue of sustainable cities and the challenge of funding the infrastructure deficit is something that is now on the national agenda.

"The mayor should be proud," Kreiner said. "He has a lot to do with the fact that there is now a focus on the federal level."

The new Martin government has created the External Advisory Committee on Cities and Communities in a bid to create new relationships between the federal and municipal governments across Canada.

Mike Harcourt, former NDP premier of British Columbia and chair of the committee, said the whole undertaking is a sincere attempt to establish a real long term vision to deal with the challenges cities are facing.

"The prime minister gets it," Harcourt said in a telephone interview from Toronto.

John Godfrey, the prime minister's parliamentary secretary and a Toronto MP, is in charge of the cities portfolio and will work closely with the advisory committee.

Godfrey agreed that Murray's efforts have had an impact on the prominence the issue has in Ottawa.

"The person who has put it all together intellectually is definitely Glen Murray," Godfrey said in a telephone interview from his office in Ottawa yesterday. "He understands the techniques of tax shifting, he understands Richard Florida's ideas like the bohemian index and he is a radical thinker in terms of involving people in the debate."

Murray said Kreiner, who is part of Murray's committee of "wise-men" who offer advice on the new deal, will be an excellent representative for Winnipeg.

"He brings huge depth and understanding to it," said Murray. "I was really, really pleased that he was selected."