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On Tuesday, April 16 Hon. Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, released Budget 2024: Fairness for Every Generation.
This year’s federal budget proposes an increase in new spending ($52.9 billion over the next 5 years as a result of new policy changes and an improving economy, increasing revenue), while holding the deficit steady just under $40 billion. As Canadians are faced with higher interest rates and cost of living challenges, this spending focuses on building more homes, helping lower everyday costs and growing the economy especially for the younger generation.
Several federal housing and infrastructure investments affecting municipalities were announced in the weeks leading up to the formal release of the budget, along with Canada’s Housing Plan to build more affordable homes on public lands. The federal government is reviewing its federal lands portfolio including consulting with municipal, provincial, and private sector partners to identify the most promising lands to be made available for housing.
Also announced was an investment of $20 million over four years for Statistics Canada and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to modernize and enhance the collection and dissemination of housing data, including municipal housing starts and completions. Similar to the municipal planning data reporting changes being considered by the Province, we expect the federal government to consider existing reporting burdens, the rationale for the collection of new data, whether the information can be collected from other sources, and reporting timelines and frequency.
Additional proposed policies and investments that may be of interest to our members and the municipal sector include:
- $1.1 billion over three years to extend the Interim Housing Assistance Program, cost-shared with the province and municipalities, to address pressures from the increased volume of asylum claimants.
- An additional $500 million over five years for municipal community, culture and recreation facilities through the Green and Inclusive Buildings Program.
- $150 million over three years for the Emergency Treatment Fund, open to municipalities, to help provide rapid responses to emergent, critical needs related to the opioid crisis.
- Design and implementation details of the Clean Electricity investment tax credit for certain taxable and non-taxable corporations, including corporations owned by municipalities.
Commitment to previously announced incentives that support rural and remote service provision, including:
Enhanced student loan forgiveness to attract more doctors and nurses to rural and remote communities.
Increasing the Volunteer Firefighters Tax Credit and the Search and Rescue Volunteers Tax Credit from $3,000 to $6,000 for 2024 and subsequent tax years.
Our advocacy for legislative and policy changes tends to be focused on the provincial level, however there are times when federal policy such as immigration, infrastructure and public health affects municipal matters. We are supportive of the work of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities who advocates for municipalities at the federal level. We have reached out for federal government support as needed, either directly or through the Province.
Through the federal budget, we are seeing investment of $2.4 billion for artificial intelligence (AI). While this investment is aimed at supporting private sector development of AI infrastructure, we are monitoring progress on AI from frameworks to policies which may impact the public sector. Our members are increasingly encountering AI, which has a lot of applicable uses for municipalities, but also raises questions around risk and security. While governments are beginning to take measures that provide frameworks and rules around the development and use of AI this puts pressure on municipalities and need to modernize legislation such as the Municipal Freedom of Information and Privacy Protection Act (MFIPPA) and Municipal Elections Act (MEA) to respond to these technological advances and support municipalities who choose to use them to enhance their services.
We look forward to monitoring the impact of these investments on municipalities, and continuing to work collaboratively with municipal associations and all levels of government.