Canada’s Big City Mayors met today in Halifax to discuss how to build on recent progress in the federal-municipal partnership and ensure cities have the right tools to tackle future national challenges.
“From the breakthrough National Housing Strategy and the transformative federal infrastructure plan, Canada’s big cities are driving the national agenda and delivering outcomes like never before,” said newly re-elected Big City Mayors’ Caucus (BCMC) chair and Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson. “Today’s meeting was a critical next step for our federal-municipal partnership, not just to help entrench and build on these important gains, but to set our sights on expanding on new tools for cities.”
A key part of the mayors’ agenda was hosting Canada’s Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, the Hon. Amarjeet Sohi. During their meeting, Minister Sohi provided the mayors with an update on how the Investing in Canada plan was progressing nation-wide, while the mayors offered feedback on the roll out of local infrastructure projects.
Also discussed was the Edmonton Declaration (PDF), which calls on mayors from around the world to ramp up their leadership in driving urgent, evidence-based action on climate change. While cities account for a large amount of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, they are also leading the way on solutions to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
“With the challenges of growth and climate change in front of us, mayors know we need new tools to tackle these national priorities,” added Iveson. “But as we’ve seen, remarkable progress is possible when you start with local solutions and a strong federal-municipal partnership. And as we continue to build that partnership, we’re building strong cities and a more livable, inclusive and sustainable Canada.”
The meeting of FCM’s Big City Mayors Caucus kicked off FCM’s four-day Annual Conference dedicated to exploring, strengthening and re-imagining the tools local governments need to build tomorrow’s Canada.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities is the national voice of municipal governments, with nearly 2,000 members representing more than 90 per cent of the Canadian population. Its Big-City Mayors' Caucus brings together 22 of Canada's largest cities.