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Since the last federal election, the Telegraph-Journal has reported extensively on the state of federal-provincial relations, the economy, and the issues of greatest political concern in New Brunswick.

Today, New Brunswickers have an opportunity to press federal party leaders for new commitments.

We believe six issues are crying out for a constructive response - and the party that can deliver one stands a better chance of winning over voters.

*Municipal funding. Canada's economic growth is being driven by growth in cities, but this has placed enormous demands on cities to provide new infrastructure. City councils can't make the necessary investments in water, roads and public transit on the paltry percentage of taxes remitted back by the federal and provincial governments.

Municipalities across the country are looking for a structural solution - one that gives cities the financial resources to serve the residents they tax.

*Economic development. The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency needs to be run more transparently and independently, with funding earmarked more precisely. It also needs a bigger mandate, including the ability to fund urban renewal partnerships, such as those western Canadian cities are using to rebuild impoverished neighbourhoods. The party that vows to stop using ACOA as a political slush fund will gain a great deal of respect in Atlantic Canada.

*Funding for health care and immigration. Federal funding must be fair and equitable; it must also contribute to national stability. Per capita funding fails the test.

Federal immigration policy has trapped New Brunswick in a Catch-22 situation. To grow, the province needs more funding to attract and settle immigrants; to qualify for more federal funding, New Brunswick's population must grow.

In health care, the situation is even worse. Basing federal funding on the number of provincial residents ignores the fact that health-care costs rise as a patient ages. If the federal government implements per capita funding for health care, it will be a disaster for provinces such as New Brunswick, where the population is older than the Canadian average.

*Partnership on resources. Successive federal governments have approved financial deals for Nova Scotia and Newfoundland based on resource revenues. New Brunswick doesn't have as many resources, but it is engaged in development of national significance - the creation of a regional energy hub and efforts to pioneer a new generation of Canadian nuclear technology.

The federal government has two opportunities to partner with New Brunswick in energy-sector development. It could clear the way for development at the community level by making a concrete, monetary commitment to the strategies outlined in the Benefits Blueprint initiative. And, it could kickstart the domestic nuclear power industry by offsetting the risk to private investors interested in building Atomic Energy of Canada's first next-generation reactor.

The U.S. and Ontario economies are in freefall; Alberta's economy is slowing. New Brunswick is bucking the national trend. There is a national interest in ensuring energy projects in this province go forward - and that's the commitment New Brunswickers are looking for.

*Afghanistan. Canada needs a plan to win or a plan to get out. The federal government has little money to spend on new initiatives, and Canadians are beginning to question whether the investment in Afghanistan is worth it. Poverty, illiteracy, unsafe drinking water, crumbling infrastructure, adult education and economic development - these are serious issues in Canada as well as in Afghanistan. Can we solve them abroad before we have solved them at home? Can we solve them abroad at all?

Federal leaders need to ponder these questions, because Canadian lives hang in the balance.

*The environment. In the increasingly heated and polarized debate over carbon tax, federal parties seem to be missing the mark. Most voters don't have an ideological position. New Brunswickers want to know that two years into the next government's rein, they'll still have jobs or better prospects of obtaining a job; that domestic industries will be better equipped to compete in world markets; and that efforts to create a clean and sustainable environment are on track. The debate is not "competitiveness or the environment," but "competitiveness and the environment."

Canada needs to create a business environment that fosters excellence and innovation; one that encourages companies to switch gears to meet the challenges of changing markets; and one that fosters sustainable development.

Federal party leaders need to engage in a battle of ideas, proposing realistic solutions to the problems this province and country are facing. Whoever wins the contest, the next four years are not going to be easy. Many voters will be looking beyond party colours for confidence, creativity and capability.