Cambridge municipal leaders met with provincial ministers at the annual Association of Municipal Organizations (AMO) Conference in London, Ontario this week to stress, among other key issues, the need for better mental health and addiction supports as well as ensuring protection for heritage buildings amid growing pressure for housing development.
Cambridge Mayor Jan Liggett led delegations with seven ministries to discuss key local priorities.
Those discussions included mental health and addiction, ensuring the protection of the city's heritage buildings in the wake of Bill 23, flood plain protections, bridging the skill trade gap, advocating for funding for infrastructure upgrades, and supporting the city's new sports and recreation complex.
“The AMO conference is not only an excellent opportunity to advocate, for not only the present but also the future, on behalf of the City to the Provincial Government,” Liggett stated in a press release. “But it is also a chance for council and staff to meet with colleagues from other cities and towns to share ideas and best practices.”
The AMO Conference serves as an opportunity for municipal officials to discuss shared challenges and opportunities for their communities.
The third and final day of the 2023 Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) Conference at the RBC Place was dedicated to ending homelessness in Ontario by 2030.
"Homelessness is a social, economic and health crisis right across Ontario," said Colin Best, AMO President in a press release.
"In addition to the moral imperative to end homelessness, there's a solid business case that ending homelessness is good health policy, good economic policy, and good social policy."
Urgent action is needed to move beyond crisis response and tackle root causes, with solutions that address housing, income security, and health.
The AMO has called on the Government of Ontario to immediately:
- increase social assistance rates and keep promises to transform Ontario's system;
- increase the supply of deeply affordable community housing;
- continue to invest in community-based mental health and addictions services, including supportive housing; and,
- continue to increase base funding for the Homelessness Prevention Program, to enhance the emergency shelter system.
These provincial actions, in addition to federal enhancements to the National Housing Strategy, are critical to enabling a human-rights approach to housing and encampments at the local level, said the AMO.
"While the Ontario government has made recent and helpful investments in mental health, public health and housing, our province continues to have the lowest per capita spending on services in Canada," the AMO said.
To match the average expenditures of other provinces and territories, Ontario's annual expenditures would need to increase by $28 billion.
More than 2,000 participants from Ontario's 444 municipalities attended the 2023 AMO Conference this week.
The conference is touted as an important opportunity for municipal officials to work together with the Ontario government on solutions to today's greatest challenges. The event features more than 60 speakers, sessions and workshops, reflecting the broad scope of municipal responsibilities and priorities.
