StrategyCorp released its 2026 Ontario Municipal CAO Survey (PDF) on August 14, marking the tenth edition of its annual survey of Ontario’s municipal chief administrative officers (CAOs) and city managers. This year’s report draws on confidential interviews with 36 municipal leaders from across the province, providing perspectives on the challenges facing municipalities and the evolving role of senior municipal administrators.
While the survey covers a wide range of issues – from municipal finance and growth to artificial intelligence, strong mayor powers and healthcare – a number of broader themes emerge across the report. Taken together, these themes point to an increasingly complex operating environment for municipalities, but also to the importance of organizational leadership, strong internal capacity and effective relationships between elected officials and administration.
Notably, the report draws directly on AMCTO's own research, reflecting themes we've been hearing consistently from our CAO members – particularly the impact that hiring and removing senior staff has on organizations, and the difficult position CAOs and staff are often put in between mayors and council. The survey cites our work on the use and implementation of strong mayor powers, including our finding that 40% of mayors retained authority to appoint and dismiss their CAO, with roughly one in five subsequently using that authority, as well as our recent Harassment & Incivility Survey – underscoring how central AMCTO's data has become to understanding the realities facing municipal leaders.
For AMCTO members, there are several key themes and takeaways:
The CAO role is becoming more complex – but its fundamentals remain the same
Perhaps the most significant finding is the tension at the heart of the CAO role: the environment is changing rapidly, but the fundamentals of the job have not.
CAOs continue to see their core responsibilities as providing objective professional advice, leading the organization, supporting staff and helping council advance its priorities. The CAO remains the bridge between council and administration – translating council direction into action while ensuring elected officials understand the organization’s capacity, risks and opportunities.
What has changed is the context. CAOs reported spending more time navigating political considerations and operating in an increasingly polarized environment. This makes the balance between political acuity and professional independence increasingly important. CAOs emphasized that being non-partisan does not mean being politically unaware; municipal leaders need to understand council dynamics while retaining the ability to provide objective, professional advice.
Strong mayor powers add another dimension. Some CAOs questioned whether the expanded role of the mayor could move the CAO position closer to a chief-of-staff model, potentially affecting the ability of CAOs to provide objective advice and maintain a longer-term organizational perspective.
Key takeaway: CAOs need both political acuity and professional independence. The increasing prominence of politics makes the ability to navigate council dynamics while providing objective advice even more important.
Organizational capacity is becoming a strategic priority
CAOs identified people and financial sustainability among the issues causing the greatest concern. Workforce turnover, retirements and the concentration of institutional knowledge among a relatively small number of employees – particularly in smaller municipalities – are creating concerns about whether organizations will have the capacity and expertise required to meet future demands.
This makes organizational resilience increasingly important.
Rather than trying to predict exactly what the next four years will bring, CAOs emphasized the need to build teams, systems and processes that can respond when circumstances change.
Key takeaway: Organizational capacity matters. Strong systems, processes, succession planning, and institutional knowledge are essential to maintaining service delivery through periods of change.
Culture is not a 'soft' issue – it is organizational infrastructure
The survey's discussion of employee attraction and retention offers another important message: organizational culture is increasingly viewed as a competitive advantage.
While many CAOs reported that recruitment conditions have improved in some areas, municipalities continue to face challenges attracting and retaining employees with specialized skills. CAOs repeatedly identified workplace culture as an important factor in creating an organization where employees want to stay and build their careers. They described culture as something that must be deliberately created and continually reinforced, rather than something that can be established once and left alone.
Key takeaway: Culture is a strategic asset. A positive workplace culture supports recruitment, retention, innovation, and ultimately better service to residents.
Strategic planning is becoming a governance tool, not just a corporate document
The survey reinforces the growing importance of strategic planning as a tool for governance, alignment, and decision-making. CAOs described the process as an opportunity for councils to establish a shared vision, build consensus around priorities, and create a clear direction for administration.
Importantly, the value is not simply in producing the final document. The process itself can help build consensus, clarify expectations, and strengthen relationships.
Key takeaway: Strategic planning should drive decisions. The strongest strategic plans provide a common direction for council and administration and help guide budgets, priorities and resource allocation.
Municipalities need to become more adaptable
Another thread running throughout the survey is the growing importance of adaptability.
CAOs described a municipal environment shaped by rapidly changing legislation, economic uncertainty, geopolitical developments, technological change and evolving public expectations. Rather than planning around one predictable future, municipalities are increasingly considering multiple scenarios and building the organizational capacity to respond when conditions change.
A significant driver of this need for adaptability is the pace of provincial policy and legislative change. Throughout the survey, CAOs expressed concerns about the volume and frequency of changes affecting municipalities, noting the challenges associated with implementing new requirements while continuing to deliver day-to-day services. Many described their organizations as being in a near-constant state of adjustment, reinforcing the importance of strong internal capacity, clear processes, and the ability to respond quickly to new policy directions.
Key takeaway: Adaptability is becoming an organizational competency. Municipalities cannot predict every disruption, but they can build organizations that are better equipped to respond.
The new council term presents an opportunity to reset
Perhaps the most practical message from the survey is that the 2026 elections should be viewed as more than a change in elected officials. It is an opportunity to establish the foundations for how a municipality will operate over the next four years.
StrategyCorp identifies three priorities for the transition:
- Build the team – strengthen people, systems, processes and organizational depth.
- Prepare council for the job – provide elected officials with a practical understanding of the municipality, their role, and the relationship between council and administration.
- Establish a common direction – use strategic planning and long-term financial planning to create shared priorities and a common understanding of the municipality's challenges and choices.
Many CAOs view the first 90 days after the election as particularly important, with the transition providing a chance to reset relationships, clarify expectations, and establish a productive working environment between staff and council.
Key takeaway: The 2026 municipal election is an opportunity for orientation, team relationship-building, and strategic planning that can be used deliberately to establish a stronger foundation for the next council term.
Ultimately, StrategyCorp's 2026 survey is not simply a story about increasing pressure on municipal leaders. It is also a story about how CAOs are responding: by investing in people, strengthening organizational capacity, building relationships, modernizing their organizations, and preparing their municipalities to operate in an environment where change is increasingly the norm.