Election 2021: Municipalities lay out frontline solutions

Presss Release

September 2, 2021

OTTAWA – As the federal election campaign heats up, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) is calling on all parties to work with cities and communities of all sizes to drive a stronger, more inclusive nationwide recovery—releasing a package of achievable frontline solutions to pressing challenges, from job creation to climate change to the housing crisis.

“All pandemic long, municipal leaders have supported Canadians through these times, and we’re equally vital to Canada’s recovery,” said FCM President Joanne Vanderheyden. “We’re inviting federal parties to work directly with us to tackle major national challenges—from creating jobs and making housing more affordable to addressing the realities of climate change. We’re putting forward frontline solutions to achieve those objectives in ways that make life better for everyone.”

Today’s release—Frontline Solutions for Canada’s Recovery—consolidates proposals that FCM has shared with federal parties. These recommendations leverage municipal and federal leadership to drive sustainable growth and build better lives for Canadians. They include:

• Frontline solutions to the housing crisis: from scaling up the proven Rapid Housing Initiative to end homelessness to expanding affordable rental options for Canadians facing inadequate, overcrowded housing—disproportionately among Indigenous, racialized and newcomer communities.
• Frontline solutions to the climate crisis: strengthening local resilience to new weather extremes while supporting local pathways to net-zero emissions—from ensuring continued public transit growth to investing in low-carbon solutions like community energy generation, building retrofits and green fleets.
• Digital inclusion for all Canadians: building on recent progress to ensure everyone can access a reliable, affordable, high-speed Internet connection—focussing on rural, remote, northern and Indigenous communities, where the digital divide has been so starkly exposed by the pandemic.
• Frontline community investment: including doubling the job-creating Canada Community-Building Fund (formerly Gas Tax Fund) that empowers communities of all sizes to renew core infrastructure— from safe roads that keep people moving to cultural/recreation facilities that promote social inclusion.

“After everything Canadians have been through, they deserve progress they can see—directly in the places where they live, work and raise families,” said Vanderheyden. “We’re showing all federal parties how working with municipalities means creating good jobs, getting housing built, protecting people from floods and wildfires, building out modern transit, closing the rural Internet gap, and engaging Canadians from east to west in the march to net-zero. Working together is really the key to building a stronger, more inclusive and sustainable Canada on the other side of COVID-19.”

For more information: FCM Media Relations, media@fcm.ca

FCM’s recommendations: Frontline Solutions for Canada’s Recovery (or download PDF here)

IBF5