Strong Cities Build a Strong Province and Nation: Mississauga Submits Recommendations for 2022 Federal and Provincial Budgets

This week, Mississauga Council endorsed the City’s 2022 federal and provincial pre-budget consultation submissions. The submissions include recommendations that address the day-to-day pressures growing cities face while ensuring Mississauga remains inclusive, world-class and resilient despite the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The pandemic has highlighted time and time again the important contributions cities make in improving our quality of life. From delivering transit services, to offering outdoor activities in parks and public spaces, to ensuring building permits are approved quickly, cities like Mississauga are the backbone of our province and our country,” said Mayor Bonnie Crombie. “As we look to 2022 and beyond, I’m calling on our federal and provincial partners to continue to work with us. Your investments will ensure we can continue to deliver the services, infrastructure and amenities needed to build strong communities for everyone. City building is nation building.”

Mississauga’s pre-budget submissions include recommendations across three themes: City Building, Community and Culture and the Local Economy. Highlights of the recommendations, which form the City’s key federal and provincial priorities for 2022, include:

1. City Building

• Access to continued safe restart funding to financially recover from the pandemic.
• Development of new revenue tools to allow municipalities to deliver quality services while keeping property taxes affordable.
• Sustainable, long-term funding for infrastructure renewal, active transportation and climate change mitigation and resiliency projects.
• Funding and support for the City’s five priority transit projects: Restoring the Downtown Loop (Hurontario LRT), Two-Way, All-Day Service on the Milton GO Rail Corridor, Eglinton Crosstown West Extension to the Airport, Downtown Mississauga Terminal and Transitway Connection and the Dundas Bus Rapid Transit Corridor.

2. Community and Culture

• Partnering with cities to fund and build affordable housing to close the supply gap.
• Funding for community building initiatives including three important revitalization projects along the City’s waterfront and the Cooksville Creek corridor parkland development project.

3. Local Economy

• Targeted funding for the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic with prioritized investments that support a fair and inclusive economic recovery.
• Investing in local business innovation and competitiveness including talent development to address labour shortages.

At the provincial level, Mississauga is also encouraging the government to help the City address the growing backlog of Provincial Offence Notices in our court system by providing additional Justices of the Peace. This has been a pain point for the City and an obstacle to recovery.

“Mississauga is a strong municipal partner. We have a robust local economy and run a lean and effective government that has maintained a ‘AAA’ credit rating for the past 18 years,” said Paul Mitcham, City Manager and Chief Administrative Officer. “While we’re proud of our reputation for fiscal responsibility, the increasing cost of delivering city services while dealing with major issues such as COVID-19, the housing crisis and climate change exceeds the revenue we can generate through property taxes and user fees. Now more than ever, we need our federal and provincial partners to support our recommendations.”

The City is submitting its recommendations as part of the 2022 federal and provincial pre-budget consultations currently underway.

Learn more by reading the full submissions:

2022 Federal Pre-Budget Submission

2022 Provincial Pre-Budget Submission

Tags

• Budget and Taxes
• Government and Agencies