Ontario mayors meet in Waterloo over Development Charge Reduction Program

Ontario’s big city mayors met in Waterloo Friday to discuss a variety of municipal priorities, advocating for issues and policies important to the province’s largest cities including Burlington.

The group discussed several issues including housing, infrastructure and the homelessness, mental health and addictions crisis.

Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward spoke with CHCH News after the meeting.

She said much of the conversation surrounded the new development charge reduction program announced by Premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Mark Carney.

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The program sees $8.8 billion in capital funding to support towns and cities that cut development charges on new residential construction, by as much as 50 per cent over the next three years.

Ward said the mayors still have lots of questions about this program, with less than two weeks remaining to apply for it.
There were members of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing at the meeting, and the mayor said their conversation was productive.

Overall, all the issues the mayors discussed come back to one thing: they want a new fiscal arrangement in Canada.

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“We need a new fiscal arrangement in our country around how these things get funded — they are increasingly being pushed down to the property tax base,” said Ward. “That’s why you’ve seen significant increases across the board and we need a sustainable financial model. We can’t continue to do really what we’re doing right now. You’ve got two weeks to apply, identify major projects, get a shovel in the ground, but you might not be successful.”

“So good luck with that project, if you’re not, it’s not a way that helps us plan and fund and finance these major multi-year projects that are required for our communities,” said Ward.

Ward added that the mayors had a conversation about the homelessness and addiction recovery treatment — HART hubs — that are in some cities and the data they are collecting on their impact.

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