Editorial: No More Waiting for Help: Municipalities Need to Act Today

Over the next four weeks, municipal leaders from across Canada will gather in four very different communities: Calgary, Edmonton, Corner Brook, and Winnipeg.

Each of these cities will play host to meetings, discussions, and conventions that will bring together mayors, councillors, reeves, and municipal staff from across the country. From Newfoundland and Labrador to Alberta to Manitoba, local leaders will be sitting face to face, talking about the challenges they share and the ideas that make them different.

These next few weeks may seem like a small part of the political calendar, but in truth, they are vital. They represent one of the few times in the year when local government voices from across the the different provinces sit down together and look at the issues that shape everyday life for Canadians. From roads and water systems to housing, and transit, municipalities carry more than their share of responsibility. Yet, despite all they do, many are being pushed to the limit.

The first stop for me will be Calgary, where the Alberta Municipalities Convention will take place at the Telus Convention Centre from November 12 to 14. After that, the focus shifts to Edmonton for the Rural Municipalities of Alberta gathering, a shorter event for me but one that always sparks real conversations about how rural areas fit into the bigger picture.

Then the path leads east to Newfoundland and Labrador, where Corner Brook will host the 75th anniversary of Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador. The final stop for this scribbe will be Winnipeg, where municipal leaders from Manitoba will close the year by reflecting on the state of their cities and towns.

This journey will take me through four provinces and four regions, from the Atlantic to the Prairies. Each place has its own history and challenges, but what connects them is the same question that has been building for years: what are municipalities going to do about their aging infrastructure?

For nearly a year, I have been travelling to every corner of this country, sitting down with local leaders, visiting communities large and small, and asking what keeps them up at night. I’ve heard about housing, about population demans (both negative an increase), about economic growth, about the cost of policing and emergency services.

But one theme comes up again and again, no matter where I go: infrastructure. Not new projects or shiny expansions, but the infrastructure we already have, the pipes and roads and bridges built by generations before us that we now depend on every single day.

Municipal leaders know this better than anyone. They see the potholes. They hear from residents when a water main breaks. They look at the bridges and culverts that have been patched up one too many times. They understand that the buildings they use for libraries, fire halls, arenas, and recreation centres are showing their age. But understanding the problem and fixing it are two different things, and the second one has been much harder to do.

Over the past few decades, many municipalities have fallen into a difficult cycle. They are responsible for more and more services, but their ability to raise money has not kept up. Property taxes can only stretch so far, and provincial transfers have not grown to meet the need. Local leaders are expected to deliver more with less, to balance budgets every year, and to somehow find space for long-term investments. It is a kind of quiet crisis that does not make headlines every day, but it shapes the lives of millions of Canadians.

We often say that we should manage our household budgets carefully, saving for rainy days and planning ahead. Municipalities, though, rarely have that option. In Canada, local governments are not allowed to run deficits for their operating budgets. They must balance the books every single year, no matter what unexpected costs arise.

That means that when something breaks, something else has to be cut. When a storm damages a road or a flood erodes a bridge, the money has to come from somewhere else—sometimes from the very projects meant to prevent the next disaster.

This is not just a problem for one city or province. It is a national issue. I saw it clearly in 2024, when the Federation of Canadian Municipalities held its national conference in Calgary. During that event, a major water main broke, cutting off much of the city’s water supply and forcing residents to conserve water for almost a month.

It was a vivid example of what happens when aging systems finally give way. The timing was symbolic. Thousands of municipal leaders were gathered in one place, talking about infrastructure, while right outside the convention centre, the city itself was dealing with a major infrastructure emergency.

That was in 2024. Now, almost two years later, the same issue remains at the top of every agenda. Despite the speeches, despite the reports and funding announcements, the basic situation has not changed. Our infrastructure is aging faster than we are fixing it. The cracks are widening. The pressure is building.

Municipalities are running out of time.

As we move into another budget season, local councils across Canada are facing hard choices. Whether they were just elected, like many in Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador, or are nearing the end of their terms, like those in Ontario and British Columbia, they all face the same reality: there is no easy way out.

The question they must answer this year is simple but difficult, "Can we still afford to put off for tomorrow what must be done today?"

The easy thing to do would be to keep waiting for help. For years, municipalities have called on provincial and federal governments to step up with new funding programs. Some of that help has come, but much of it has been tied to specific priorities or short-term projects. The truth is that no level of government can fix this problem alone.

Ottawa and the provinces can provide funds, but municipalities must decide how to use them wisely. They must make tough calls about what to build, what to repair, and what services they need to retire.

I know that some people will say this is unfair. They will say municipalities have been downloaded upon for years, forced to take on responsibilities that used to belong to others. That is true. But even so, it is time to look at what can be done right now, within the limits we have.

Blaming higher levels of government may be justified, but it does not fix the pipe, rebuild the bridge, or pave the road. At some point, every community has to look at itself and ask what it is doing today, and not what someone else should do tomorrow.

That is the question I plan to ask at every one of these upcoming conventions.

"What are municipalities doing today to address their aging infrastructure?", Not what do they wish the federal government would do. Not what program they hope the province will launch next year. What are they doing, right now, to keep their systems safe and sustainable?

When I ask that question, I don’t want vague answers. I don’t want to hear, “We need more money.” I want to hear how much more money. If a mayor says the city needs additional funding, I want to know the number. What would it take to fix the roads, replace the pipes, or modernize the wastewater system? If the answer is $25 million, say $25 million. If it’s $250 million, say that too. Because until we start talking about concrete numbers, we are just talking in circles.

Its time to say the hard thing, say the number!

Municipal leaders know their budgets better than anyone. They are the ones reading the line items, approving capital plans, and facing residents when taxes rise. They should be able to tell us, in plain language, what they need and what they can do themselves. If they can’t, then how can anyone expect the federal or provincial governments to understand what is required?

I am not suggesting that every town or city can solve this alone. Some cannot. Many small communities, especially in rural and northern areas, simply don’t have the tax base to maintain the infrastructure they inherited. They rely on support from higher levels of government, and that is as it should be. But even in those cases, the conversation needs to start with clear facts, not frustration. The more specific municipalities can be about what they need, the easier it will be to make their case.

Over the next four weeks, as municipal leaders gather in Calgary, Edmonton, Corner Brook, and Winnipeg, I hope they will take this issue seriously. Not as another agenda item or panel topic, but as the defining question of their time in office. Because infrastructure is not just about pipes and pavement. It is about how people live. It affects whether your child’s school bus can cross a bridge safely, whether your tap water is clean, whether your community can grow without crumbling under its own weight. It affects local business, public safety, and even the value of your home.

When we talk about infrastructure, we are really talking about the backbone of our communities. And right now, that backbone is weakening. If we don’t act, we risk passing down a heavier burden to those who come after us.

To quote a former president of FCM, "Local government is the level closest to the people. They are the government of proximity."

That is true. It is also the level that most directly feels the consequences of delay. When a storm drain floods a street, when a sewer line bursts, or when a playground is closed because of safety concerns, the people affected don’t call the federal government. They call their city or town hall. That is where accountability begins.

So, as I prepare to travel across the country for these next four conventions, I am not looking for complaints. I am looking for answers. Real, concrete, measurable answers. If a municipality is finding creative ways to fund repairs, I want to hear about it. If it has formed partnerships with local industry or non-profits to maintain infrastructure, I want to hear that too. If it has found new technologies or new models that work, even better. The goal is not to criticize, but to understand and share solutions.

Because in local governments, I will always say the best way to solve a problem, is to steal a solution from another municipality. So lets have the hard talk! Lets explain in simple terms how a municipality in rural Manitoba can help a coastal community in Newfoundland and Labrador!

Every level of government has a role to play, but the leadership must start locally. Municipalities need to be honest with their residents about what is possible, transparent about what it will cost, and bold enough to make decisions that will last longer than a single election term.

It is easy to talk about vision and growth. It is harder to talk about repair and maintenance. But the truth is that the future we imagine depends on the work we do today. You cannot build new neighbourhoods if your existing infrastructure is failing. You cannot promise progress if your foundation is crumbling beneath you.

We cannot keep hoping that the next budget or the next grant will solve everything. We need to start fixing what is in front of us, one project at a time, one decision at a time.

As I’ve said before, I don’t know what answers I will hear from the municipal leaders I meet. But I know what question I’ll be asking. What are we actually going to do about it? The time for waiting is gone. The time for action is now.

The pipes will not fix themselves, the bridges will not rebuild themselves, and the roads will not repave themselves. It is up to us—all of us—to make sure the communities we love are ready for the next generation.

And if we don’t, then no one else will.