QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities
Support for Municipalities
April 25, 2023
Welcome, minister. I am asking this question on behalf of Senator Moodie, who is ill and not able to be with us today.
Minister, your mandate letter acknowledges the need to ensure municipal priorities are reflected in the federal agenda. Indeed, municipalities play an important role in ensuring that Canadians have access to crucial services and a good quality of life.
Minister LeBlanc, what is the Government of Canada willing to do to support large municipalities — like Senator Moodie’s hometown of Toronto — who are currently under the strain of providing key services without the resources to do so? Specifically, she would refer to social services, of which they are in dire need, such as mental health and addictions care.
Senator Kutcher, thank you for the question, and thank you for the extraordinary work that you have done as a clinician, as a professor and as an advocate in the whole area of mental health, mental wellness and addictions. In our region, you are an iconic figure in that work, and your presence here speaks to the importance, I think, that all Canadians share in terms of the precise issues you mentioned.
In terms of the Government of Canada’s support for municipalities, this year alone, we’re transferring almost unconditionally $2.4 billion of what had previously been referred to as the gas tax. It’s now no longer linked to the excise tax on fuel. It’s a transfer from the Consolidated Revenue Fund. That is just one example.
In my discussions with the former mayor of Toronto, I think it represents between $400 million and $500 million for the City of Toronto. I want to double-check that I am giving you an accurate number. That is just one example where the Government of Canada directly partners with municipal governments.
You will understand that provinces are also jealous of their relationship with municipalities that are not a constitutional order of government but that are created by provincial statutes. Some provinces are a little more sensitive than others on that issue.
The ability of the Government of Canada to directly fund a social service in a city is complicated. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t partner with provinces, particularly around the issues of refugees, of people who come and use up municipal services in a way that might properly be a federal responsibility. I know your work with my colleague Dr. Carolyn Bennett on the mental health and addictions file tells me that we also have good news coming, senator, with respect to those priorities as well.
