AMO POLICY UPDATE
FONOM
May 12, 2017
PROVINCIAL BUDGET
 Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund
 Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund
 Connecting Links
 Municipal Revenue and Property Taxation
 Hotel/accommodation tax
 Railways
 Provincial Land Tax
 Budget Bill-Bill 126
 WSIB changes
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BILL 68- MUNICIPAL ACT, MCIA
 Clause by clause discussion at Standing Committee last week
 Key issues for municipal governments:
 Proposed new municipal IC regime multi-faceted and untested
 Who can make a Code of Conduct or MCIA complaint
 Termination of Code of Conduct or MCIA inquiries during election
periods – not during election period or if not complete before period
 Municipal Election Act
 Term of Council will be November 15 as of 2022
 Nomination form- 25 won’t apply if the no of electors in previous less
 Like definition of meeting- resolves issues from previous application
 Electronic meetings discretionary, but can’t participate in a closed meeting
 Like prudent investor standard- better rates of return or monies
 Different commencement dates for different parts of Acts
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POLICING
 Police Services Act amendments expected later in 2017
 Improvements to the efficiency and effectiveness of policing
are desperately needed
 cost containment and policing modernization
 Police governance reforms needed
 Clarification of Police Service Board mandates
 Resources necessary
 Justice Tulloch’s report on Independent Police Oversight
 Mandatory training for PSB members
 Establishment of a College of Policing
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FIRE ISSUES
 Fire collective agreements + settlements continue to trend up
 Trying to compare to police or if that, overtake
 Fire Safety Technical Table
 Professional qualifications minimum standards
 Vulnerability for all fire services – liability, inquests
 Looking at how pre-service and on line training + exams can reduce
municipal costs while establishing standards for fire duties
 Expanding Medical Responses
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CHANGING WORKPLACES
 Labour Relations Act and the Employment Standards Act
amendments
 Special Advisors appointed by MOL Minister in May 2015
 Released an Interim Report in July 2016
 Focused on vulnerable workers engaged in precarious
employment
 Expecting Final Report now- to direct legislative changes
 AMO has established a Task Force to determine the potential
impacts of recommendations on municipal governments
 Why important:
 Municipal governments are significant employers
 May seek to change work environment for employees dramatically
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INFRASTRUCTURE
 Federal Budget 2017 elaborated on plans for $180 billion in public
infrastructure investment over 11 years
 Public Infrastructure Fund - $20.1 billion on 70/30 ridership/population
formula
 Green Infrastructure Fund - $21.9 billion
 Social Infrastructure Fund- $21.9 billion including $11.2 billion for
affordable housing
 Trade and Transportation Fund - $10.1 billion
 Rural and Northern Communities Fund - $2 billion
 Federal-provincial agreements needed to flow
 AMO is working with the province to provide input on municipal needs
and priorities for federal funding
 The Canada Infrastructure Bank will - $35 billion – to attract private
investment such as pension funds to finance major, long term
infrastructure projects.
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ASSET MANAGEMENT
Under the Federal Gas Tax Agreement, municipal governments :
 Develop and implement an asset management plan by Dec 31, 2016
 Include all eligible infrastructure categories
 Report on progress - asset management outcomes
Bill 6 – Infrastructure for Jobs and Prosperity Act:
 Asset management planning regulations are expected soon
 Regulations are likely to include provincial reporting requirements,
need for data on asset condition, service levels of assets, financing
and climate resilience.
 Requirements may be phased in over time
FCM Municipal Asset Management Program
 New funding to municipal governments soon
 Training opportunities coming this fall
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ENERGY
“Fair Hydro Plan”
 Residential households should feel the average 25% reduction
impact on their July electricity bill
 Small businesses, farms, low income and those living in
eligible rural communities to receive greater reductions
 Includes the 8% rebate equal to the provincial portion of HST
announced in January 2017
 OEB’s April 20 th Regulated Price Plan Electricity Rate
announcement
 rates will be held to inflation for next 4 years
 No relief from high electricity costs for large municipal
facilities like sewage treatment plants
 Long Term Energy Plan expected Spring/Summer 2017
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ENERGY
Natural Gas expansion
 $100 million Natural Gas Grant program announced on April
21st
 Applications for funding to be made by natural gas
distributors or suppliers- must be municipal or FN council
support through resolution
 Eligibility Focus- extend pipelines + build liquefied/
compressed infrastructure
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CLIMATE CHANGE
 Bill 172- Climate Change and Low Carbon Economy Act 2016
 The Ontario government’s climate action strategy and carbon pricing –
cap and trade regime is in effect
 First credit auction – the FIRST regulatory charge for greenhouse
gases – held in March raised $472M
 Next auction scheduled for July
 AMO is working on helping municipalities transition to a low
carbon economy – new Task Force struck and services
contemplated
 Northern ideas needed
 AMO’s work with Union of Quebec Municipalities (UQM)
continues -- signed agreement in November 2015 to work together
on climate action. Engagement will be closer as the federal carbon
pricing mechanism/and climate policy becomes clearer
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LONG STANDING POLICY ITEMS
 Assessment Review Board Decisions & MPAC
methodologies
 Municipal governments need a predictable + stable tax base
 Ontario Municipal Board review
 Aggregate Resources Act (Bill 39) & Fees
 POA Fees
 At long last– plate denial for defaulted POA fines begins May
1 st
 Will date back to May 1, 2010
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CANNABIS
 Federal legalization legislation tabled April 13
 The legislation amends current Acts to:
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 create limits of 30 grams of dried marijuana for individual possession
for adults over the age of 18 years;
 authorize the creation of a licensing system for marijuana growers and
a tracking system for plants;
 establishes penalties for possession of greater amounts of marijuana,
trafficking outside of the proposed system and distribution to minors.
Provinces can set up their own distribution regimes/minimum age or
default to the federal
New drugged/drunk driving offences and police powers included
AMO’s position is to ensure municipal control of location of
businesses for community concerns and ensure resources for
additional health, emergency services and policing costs
AMO is engaged with the province through our Marijuana Legalization
Task Force on the Ontario approach
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HOUSING
 AMO is working with the Province on the implementation of the
recently updated Long-Term Affordable Housing Strategy
 The long-term fiscal sustainability of social housing is top of mind;
working towards transformation and future enabling legislative and
regulatory change
 Funding investments are still needed from both the provincial and
federal governments to address the accumulated capital repair
backlog, estimated conservatively at $1.5 billion
 AMO is feeding into the development of the federal National
Housing Strategy to ensure the interests of Ontario are reflected
and met
 AMO analyzing the measures announced as part of the 16 point
provincial Fair Housing Plan; more information is needed to assess
the effectiveness of the interventions in different housing markets
across Ontario
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WASTE DIVERSION
 Transition to the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy
Act – full producer responsibility
 In the municipal interest to move the Blue Box to full producer
responsibility sooner than later – looking for a Blue Box
program plan change in partnership with producers
 too soon for councils to make informed decisions re contracts
 We are working with our municipal partners to create a
municipal waste entity to support municipal governments and
municipal staff in this transition
 Right now AMO is incubating this policy support and
coordination
 2017 Steward Obligation- stay tuned
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HEALTH ISSUES
 AMO is engaging with the Province on the Patient's First Strategy
 particularly on the new directions proposed for Public Health roles +
responsibilities/ funding/accountability agreements and the relationship with
LHINs
 AMO is engaged with the Province on the 2008 Ontario Public Health
Standards update and seeking to ensure it is a cost neutral exercise
that will not impact existing municipal cost sharing arrangements
 Land Ambulance
 Non-urgent transfers
 Community para-medicine
 Dispatch study decisions still outstanding
 Other areas of policy/government relations work include:
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Equitable access to healthcare across regions
Physician recruitment incentives
Hospital capital funding
Northern Health Travel Grants
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HUMAN SERVICES
C hi l d C a r e :
 Provincial government has committed to expanding 100, 000 new child care spaces across
Ontario over the next five years
 Federal government has committed $7 billion over 10 years to deliver on a National Early
Learning and Child Care Framework across the country
 AMO is committed that the benefits of affordable, accessible child care are dispersed equitably
to all of the province and that child care in the north, rural areas and small communities is
sustainable
I nc om e Se c ur i ty R e f or m :
 The government has committed to a process of broad income security reform including
exploring changes to social assistance, housing, health and child care benefits
 There is northern representation on the government’s working group
 AMO is represented on a number of policy working tables looking at components of income
security reform
 The pilot will take place in the following locations:
 Hamilton, Brantford and Brant County – Launching late spring 2017
 Thunder Bay and the surrounding area – Launching late spring 2017
 Lindsay- City of Kawartha Lakes – Launching by fall 2017.
 The locations were selected so that the pilot can study outcomes in urban, rural and mixed
urban/rural areas
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FEDERAL GAS TAX
 For 2017 and 2018, AMO will be administrating $1.27 billion to be
invested in local infra structure for 443 municipal governments
 Important to demonstrate our success in investments made both for
local and for national objectives
 Asset management planning requirement- all working hard
 Renewed focus on outcome reporting
 Early 2018-review of current agreement that is in place to 2013
 2019 allocations will be based on new census data
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UPCOMING AMO EVENTS
 AMO Conference
 August 13-16th, Ottawa
 Human Services Symposium 2.0
 September 21st, Toronto airport area
 Labour Relations Symposium
 September 22nd, Toronto airport area
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