OTTAWA – The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) released an urgent plea to the federal government last week for an increase in funding to municipalities nationwide. According to the FCM’s latest report, many are being pushed to the brink of financial crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic. FCM President Bill Karsten stated: “With new expenses, staggering drops in revenue and no freedom to run deficits, municipalities need emergency funding to keep essential services going.”

“A lot of small business owners have been asking local mayors and councils to provide deferrals for property tax and for service costs for water, waste water and garbage,” said Green MP Paul Manly (Nanaimo-Ladysmith). “I’ve also heard from small business owners that municipalities are cancelling contracts with them. In one case a local farm and nursery in my riding has had contracts for plants cancelled. Contract cancellations like this end up cascading as businesses can’t pay their suppliers. Owners are forced to choose between paying bills and going bankrupt themselves.”

The FCM estimates that municipal transit systems are incurring monthly losses of about $400 million due to diminished ridership, part of at least $10-15 billion dollars in near-term, non-recoverable losses due to COVID-19. “A bailout package for municipalities could help them to defer tax and service fees while maintaining existing contract commitments,” said Mr. Manly. “These measures will help a lot of Canadians and small businesses while ensuring that municipalities can continue to provide essential services including police, fire, water, sewerage and waste management.”

The FCM is calling for at least $10 billion in emergency operating funding, including $7.6 billion in direct federal allocations to all municipalities, plus $2.4 billion for those with transit systems. Additional funds would be needed for municipalities facing added challenges supporting isolation guidelines for vulnerable populations.

“Toronto alone is facing a shortfall of $2.76 billion in 2020 due to the pandemic,” said Tim Grant, the Green Party’s urban affairs and housing critic. ”Without federal support, cities will have to lay off large numbers of staff or dramatically boost property taxes. Both options will deepen the crises that cities face. By contrast, if cities receive needed emergency operating funding, they will be able to lead the recovery. Our cities are ideally positioned to get fast results from investments in social services and public infrastructure.”

“Given the unprecedented times we are in, and the extraordinary financial measures that have already been taken by the federal government to help citizens and businesses navigate this pandemic, let’s not overlook the importance of protecting municipalities,” said Green Party Interim Leader Jo-Ann Roberts. “Cities, towns and communities across Canada are the bedrock of our economic development. As we prepare for the recovery phase of this crisis we must ensure that they too are safeguarded from financial calamity.”

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For more information or to arrange an interview:
Rosie Emery
Press Secretary
613-562-4916 ext, 204
rosie.emery@greenparty.ca

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Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield was accused of misleading the House of Commons Tuesday after he suggested the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) still supports controversial and sweeping changes to the Fisheries Act.

The FCM, in a near-unanimous emergency vote at its annual meeting in Saskatoon on the weekend, passed a resolution stating the changes in the omnibus budget implementation bill “could reduce the act’s ability to protect the environment.”

B.C. New Democratic Party MP Fin Donnelly and Green Party leader Elizabeth May both denounced Ashfield’s response.

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My question is for the Minister of Fisheries, since he has repeatedly referenced FCM as a supporter of the bill and in fact said, “countless other municipal leaders have been calling for these types of reforms for many years”. Now that we can count them on the fingers of one hand, will the government admit it made a mistake in going after and gutting the Fisheries Act in Bill C-38?

Hon. Keith Ashfield: Mr. Speaker, I have said many times that we are focusing our fish and fish habitat protection on Canada’s fisheries. In fact, it is true that municipalities across the country have indicated to me on many ocassions that the red tape they have to go through for work in and around minor waterways is excessive.

I have a quote from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities that says, “By reducing the time municipal employees are forced to spend filling out forms…the changes will make it faster and less expensive for local governments to perform routine public services”.

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Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said she will make every attempt to thwart the sweeping overhaul of Canadian law laid out in the omnibus budget bill in the coming week.

“This is a fight to ensure Canadians live in a democracy,” she told a packed conference hall at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference in Saskatoon.

May and the Liberals plan on a test of parliamentary endurance to delay the passage of the 425-page Bill C-38, which would overhaul environmental protection and fisheries laws, streamline reviews for major natural resource projects, make it more difficult for Canadians receiving EI to refuse work and earmark funds for the Canada Revenue Agency to scrutinize the political activities of charities, among dozens of other changes.

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The motion was introduced by Tom Siddon, former Progressive Conservative Fisheries Minister, and passed by a large majority.

“I applaud the FCM for standing up for Canada’s fisheries and for recognizing the damaging nature of Bill C-38,” said May.

“We are seeing Canada’s true leaders speaking out against Bill C-38 as damaging to our natural resources and our communities. Will Stephen Harper listen?” asked Green Leader Elizabeth May, Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands.

Elizabeth May will address the FCM later today as a keynote speaker.

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“This year’s meeting theme of ‘Strong Cities, Strong Communities, Strong Canada’ dovetails very well with the Green Party’s goals of smart economy, strong communities, true democracy,” said May.  “I am very honoured to be invited to speak to Canada’s municipal leaders and share with them my vision of how we can work together, on all levels of government, to achieve these goals for Canadians.

“As Canada becomes an increasingly urban nation, we need policies that can shift to benefit municipalities.  Only 8% of the tax base currently goes to municipal governments and that is not nearly enough to allow them to deal with the need to upgrade and improve infrastructure and provide essential services.”

Urban Canadians need their garbage collected, good transit services, safe roads, and dependable water supplies. They also want new investment in green urban infrastructure, including recycling, mass transit, energy efficiency upgrades to buildings, water conservation, and community amenities like parks, sports fields, arts and culture, and community centres. Underlying this is an urgent need to replace aging sewer systems, roadways, and water pipes.

“Canadian municipalities simply don’t have enough money to do it all,” said May.

The Greens are calling for the creation of new pools of municipal infrastructure funding by changing tax rules to create Municipal Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs) bonds that can be held in RRSPs and self-directed RRSPs, as well as allocating an additional portion of the federal gasoline tax directly to the provinces for transfer to municipalities.

The Green Party also suggests the creation of six Municipal Superfunds of $500 million/fund/year (an average of $100 for every citizen per year) to which municipalities can apply for grant funding to replace the less specific Canada Strategic Infrastructure Fund (CSIF).

The proposed funds are:

1. Community Brownfield Remediation (CBR) Fund to provide assistance in cleaning up toxic and brownfield sites;
2. Water and Waste Treatment Facilities (WWTF) Fund to upgrade water treatment, sewage treatment, and recycling facilities to make them efficient, safe, and sustainable;
3. Sports, Cultural, and Recreational Facilities (SCRF) Fund to support the development of green recreational and cultural facilities and refurbish existing facilities;
4. Mass Transit Promotion (MTP) Fund to improve and expand urban mass transit infrastructure and inter-modal connections, as well as car-sharing initiatives;
5. Cycling and Pedestrian Promotion (CPP) Fund to support pedestrian and cycling infrastructure and smart-growth developments that transform urban areas and towns into walkable communities linked by transit to reduce the need for owning and using cars; and,
6. Community Housing Options Promotion (CHOP) Fund supporting a national housing program to build energy efficient co-operatives and affordable housing units where there is a shortage of such housing options.

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