Year in Review 2025: Big City Mayors' Caucus

Municipal Affairs
2 days ago
2 min read

Over the past twelve months, municipal leaders from coast to coast have been navigating a perfect storm of pressures. Housing affordability and homelessness reached levels we’ve never seen before, pushing our shelter systems — and our compassion — to the breaking point.

At the same time, rapid population growth continued to strain the very foundations of urban life: public transit, roads, water systems, community services… all aging faster than we can repair them, and all expected to serve more people than ever.

And then there’s the fiscal reality. Cities faced growing budget stress, making tough choices between raising taxes, cutting services, or delaying vital infrastructure. Residents felt it. Businesses felt it.

And mayors — often with the fewest revenue tools — were stuck trying to balance growing needs with shrinking dollars.

Layer onto that the social challenges of mental health, addictions, and public safety — challenges that don’t stop at municipal borders, yet land squarely on municipal doorsteps.

And hovering above it all is the uncertainty of intergovernmental funding. Cities know they can’t tackle these crises alone; provinces and the federal government know it too… but agreement on the ‘how’ has been harder to come by.

And yet, amid all these pressures, 2025 was also a year of remarkable collaboration and determination. Mayors across the country — especially through coalitions like FCM’s Big City Mayors’ Caucus — spoke in a united voice louder than we’ve heard in years. City leadership showed that these challenges are shared, systemic, and solvable — if Canada’s governments pull in the same direction.

We’re taking a closer look at what the past year has meant for our largest cities, what progress has been made, and what opportunities lie ahead as we move into 2026.

And there’s no better person to help us unpack it than our guest: the Chair of the FCM Big City Mayors’ Caucus, and the Mayor of London, Ontario — Josh Morgan.

We’ll talk about the state of urban Canada, what keeps big-city mayors up at night, and why coordinated action has never been more important.

Stay with us — the conversation starts right after this.

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