OTTAWA – Housing Minister Sean Fraser said he is trying to coax big city mayors to keep development charges steady with new federal funding after some major Canadian cities recently raised fees for new housing construction.

The government has chosen to address the problem of development charges through a new program, the Housing Infrastructure Fund, which will give municipalities funding to build new infrastructure, like water and sewer lines, provided they don’t increase charges, said Fraser, who appeared Tuesday at the House of Commons infrastructure committee to talk about his department’s spending in the coming year.