It's always the fine print, isn't it?

The recent federal government announcement of $6 billion in new funding for infrastructure to support new housing is welcome. Some would say long over-due.

FCM, quite properly, greeted the announcement with applause. They and Canada's municipalities have been fighting a lengthy battle for this kind of funding.

But, within hours, provincial knives came out.

The fine print said that provinces and territories would have to adopt new measures to support the fed's housing strategy. Some of those terms include provinces and territories adopting the fed's recently announced, "Renter's Bill of Rights", allowing four-plexes pretty much anywhere, freeze development charges for three years, adopt upcoming changes to the national building code, and automatically approve the construction of homes that follow the fed's upcoming design catalogue.

There would also be new conditions for municipalities about eliminating mandatory minimum parking for new housing, and giving mandatory permission for high-density housing near transit lines or post-secondary institutions.

Other details are to come.

The first billion seems to be a firm commitment to municipalities to support infrastructure investment. Now.

Good.

The next five billion get into those murky waters of federal-provincial-territorial jurisdiction. The federal government is suggesting that provinces or territories that do not comply will not get all their cash. Hardball. Elections loom.

Again, much more to come.

However, quite predictably, several provincial premiers have begun to fire back. How much is posturing at this stage of negotiations and what bottom lines may be drawn are, of course, very much in flux.

In the meantime, municipalities will be studying the Prime Minister's announcement with eagle eyes to discern the slightest nuance. As they have learned from many other government announcements, particularly those proposing the sharing of tax dollars, the fine print is more important than the headline.