Council Members Spend Three Days in Ottawa: Evaluating Their Accomplishments
The City of Burlington has been actively engaging with various provincial ministries and government officials to advance its strategic priorities, focusing on environmental sustainability, economic health, housing, and infrastructure funding.
At the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) 2025 Conference in Ottawa, Mayor Marianne Meed Ward and Burlington City Councillors held meetings with several provincial ministers, including the Deputy Premier, Minister of Health, Minister of Finance, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Minister of Infrastructure, Attorney General, Solicitor General, Associate Attorney General, and Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, as the Chair of Ontario's Big City Mayors (OBCM).
The discussions covered a wide range of topics, with a particular focus on protecting local greenspaces, advocating for housing affordability, securing predictable infrastructure and transit funding, and supporting local economic growth and skills development.
In a significant move, the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program (MHIP) will invest an additional $1.6 billion to speed up construction on homes and critical infrastructure, nearly doubling the program to $4 billion. This investment is expected to accelerate the construction of more long-term care homes, especially in regions like the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) and northern Ontario, through the new Capital Funding Program (CFP).
The province's $1.2B Building Faster Fund (BFF) eligibility criteria will also be amended to better reflect current market conditions and the efforts of local municipalities to achieve provincially mandated housing starts.
The Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security (MCURES) discussed the college's planned healthcare-focused campus expansion into Burlington with city representatives and Mohawk College President, Paul Armstrong. However, no information was provided about any outcomes related to this expansion in this paragraph.
The Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) staff engaged in strategic dialogue with the Burlington delegation around advancing the options to protect areas around Mount Nemo and the Niagara Escarpment. Burlington requested that the province redesignate the lands at Mount Nemo as Escarpment Natural and Escarpment Protection to ensure the long-term viability of local ecosystems.
The Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) also held discussions with Burlington delegates to better understand local energy infrastructure challenges and its impacts on municipal housing starts.
Moreover, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) recognized the challenging impacts of current economic conditions on municipalities and assured that municipalities will be eligible for future components of the province's $5B Building Ontario Fund.
Burlington representatives also met with government officials including cabinet ministers, MPPs, and industry contributors to discuss and advocate for these priorities. The Ministry of Transportation (MTO) officials recognized the ongoing need for careful coordination with the City of Burlington to communicate and ease local traffic impacts during Burlington Skyway Bridge lane closures.
The City of Burlington will continue to advocate to all levels of government to advance the strategic priorities of Council. The AMO conference, which had over 3,000 attendees in Ottawa for three days of education, delegation meetings, and networking opportunities, provided an excellent platform for these discussions.
The Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) is a non-profit organization representing most of Ontario's municipal governments, supporting and enhancing strong and effective municipal government in Ontario, and promoting the value of municipal government as a vital and essential component of Ontario and Canada's political systems.
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