Ontario municipalities need a moonshot mission

Ontario’s municipalities need a new sense of mission. 

The intertwined crises of housing affordability and climate change demand not just incremental adjustments but a transformative approach. We need a new vision, one where municipalities embrace mission-oriented government and lead the way in creating a more equitable, sustainable future.

We’re asking a lot of our municipalities — there is a lot to do since we simply need more than we’re getting today as citizens.

As Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz recently argued, “we’ve created the scarcity on purpose.” Whether through cumbersome planning processes weaponized by special interests or funding cuts, we have created a system where we do not have enough housing, so housing is unaffordable; we do not have enough schools, so they are overcrowded; we do not have enough transit, so commuting times are a daily frustration; and we do not have enough health care, so hospitals are unable to treat patients in reasonable timeframes, with the mental health and addictions crisis spilling out into our downtowns.

This isn’t about assigning blame — there’s plenty to go around. Instead, it’s about recognizing that decades of cuts and underinvestment have left us with decayed public services and an urgent need for a new direction.

The housing crisis is top of mind for many. The provincial government’s goal of building 1.5 million homes is necessary, but focusing solely on development approvals (which is what municipalities can control; it’s the builder who builds) risks overlooking the broader context. 

As economist Mike Moffatt points out, we can’t just build our way out of the housing crisis if we’re not also addressing the quality of life in those communities. New developments must be integrated with the essential public services that turn housing into homes and neighbourhoods into vibrant communities.

Yet, too often, municipalities are left to shoulder the burdens of growth without the necessary support. Provincial policies require rapid residential development, but they frequently fail to provide the funding needed for the infrastructure that makes communities thrive. This imbalance forces local governments to stretch already limited resources, struggling to maintain existing services while accommodating new growth. It also is why students are housed in portables even as more housing development gets approved.

At the core of this mission, then, is the need to strengthen public services. Schools, health-care facilities, public transit, libraries and community centres are not optional add-ons; they are the essential services that support thriving communities. Any growth strategy must prioritize investment in these services, ensuring they are accessible to everyone and capable of sustaining the demands of a growing population.

This scarcity dynamic is particularly harmful to the youngest and the oldest generations. Torsten Bell, a U.K. Labour MP, describes this generational struggle: “We measure the success of our society by how we provide for older generations, and whether we enable each successive generation to have a better life than the one before. We are managing neither.” In Ontario, this failure is evident in the growing divide between those who can secure a stable future and those young people for whom homeownership feels increasingly out of reach, not to mention seniors anxious about inadequate — if not outright squalid — long-term care homes.

We also must balance growth with the preservation of what makes Ontario’s small towns and rural areas such great places to live in the first place. Farmland, forests and watersheds are critical parts of our natural infrastructure, preventing flooding and filtering our air. The rush to meet housing targets should not come at the expense of these irreplaceable landscapes. Managed correctly, growth can enhance, not erode, the character and vitality of our small towns.

Indeed, we need to rethink how we design our urban and suburban spaces. The era of sprawling, car-dependent suburbs must give way to walkable communities with gentle density. Jane Jacobs got it right, advocating for mixed-use neighbourhoods where people can live, work, shop and socialize within walking distance. Hers is an enduring blueprint for sustainable, humane urban development. Similarly, Lewis Mumford reminds us a municipality is “a conscious work of art” when done properly. Plus, sustainable development and retrofitting older homes are foundational elements of any mission to fight climate change.

Yes, municipalities need a new, fair fiscal deal with the federal and provincial governments to gain the funding tools required.

But more than that, to achieve this vision, we must adopt a new approach to governing. Mariana Mazzucato argues governments should not merely react to crises but proactively set ambitious societal goals and work across sectors to achieve those “missions” or “moonshots.” As she suggests, “Government needs to do much more. It must transform itself into an innovating organization with the capacity and capability to energize and catalyze the economy to be more purpose-driven.”

This approach demands a shift from reactive, piecemeal policies to a governance model based around the province getting the basics under its jurisdiction right, particularly health care and education, and by empowering municipalities to do the big, societal mission we face today to build not only more housing but rather complete communities in a sustainable way.

This also requires municipalities to change their own governance, some of which is underway in certain areas. Having both regional and local planning departments is duplicative, but using conservation authorities to review risks from natural hazards is not. Streamlining approvals and providing a clear roadmap of the requisite studies for an application is a basic aspect of customer service. And creating a political climate wherein municipal councillors are incentivized to say “yes” to sensible development, rather than to use the NIMBY siren song of “I’m not against development in general, just this particular one” requires both the federal and provincial government using carrots and sticks to reward good behaviour and disincentivize blocking the mission we need to achieve.

Because the truth is that today we have too little of what we need. To fix this, we need more housing and better public services. To do that, we need better governance. That’s the mission. For municipalities, this is our moonshot moment.

Let’s seize it.

Jonathan Scott is a Councillor in the Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury.