Mississauga advocates for top priorities at 2024 AMO conference

From August 18-21, 2024, a delegation of Councillors and staff from the City of Mississauga, led by Mayor Carolyn Parrish, attended the Association of Municipalities of Ontario’s (AMO) 2024 conference in Ottawa, where they met with government officials including cabinet ministers, opposition party leaders, MPPs and industry stakeholders to discuss and advocate for Mississauga’s priorities.

In attendance from the City were Councillor Alvin Tedjo, Ward 2; Councillor Chris Fonseca, Ward 3; Councillor Joe Horneck, Ward 6; Councillor Dipika Damerla, Ward 7; Deputy Mayor and Councillor, Matt Mahoney, Ward 8; Councillor Martin Reid, Ward 9; Councillor Sue McFadden, Ward 10; Councillor Brad Butt, Ward 11; Geoff Wright, Mississauga’s City Manager and Chief Administrative Officer; and Raj Sheth, Commissioner of Corporate Services.

During the conference, Mississauga’s delegation took the opportunity to discuss the City’s top priorities including housing affordability and the tools needed to get housing built quickly; ensuring Mississauga and Peel Region receive their fair share of provincial funding; investing in infrastructure and transit, including a new deal for Mississauga similar to those recently signed between the province and the cities of Toronto and Ottawa; job growth and skills development to meet the demand for new housing; and supports for key industries including small businesses.

Individual meetings took place with the cabinet ministers and representatives from the following portfolios:

• Municipal Affairs and Housing
• Infrastructure
• Transportation
• Finance
• Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, and Small Business
• Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development

The Mississauga delegation also met with the leaders and caucus members from the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP), Ontario Liberal Party and the Ontario Green Party.

The Mississauga delegation stressed with all provincial ministers, as well as with opposition party leaders, the need for fairness for the 1.5 million people that live in Peel Region. According to the Metamorphosis Network, a group of close to 100 social services agencies in Peel Region, residents in Peel receive $578 less per capita from the province than people living in other regions, and $145 less per capita for vital social services. In total, Peel Region is short more than $868 million for important programs and services that residents rely upon. This funding gap must be closed using property tax dollars. Mississauga joined Peel Region and the Metamorphosis Network to make the case to the provincial government for fairness for Peel Region and Mississauga taxpayers.

Learn more about Mississauga’s priorities with the provincial government by reading the City’s 2024 provincial pre-budget submission.

Background

AMO is a non-profit organization representing almost all of Ontario’s municipal governments. AMO supports and enhances strong and effective municipal government in Ontario and promotes the value of municipal government as a vital and essential component of Ontario and Canada’s political systems. Each year, Mississauga leads a delegation to the conference and arranges meetings with key ministries and Members of Cabinet, and opposition party leaders to discuss and advocate for the City’s top priorities.

Quote

“The AMO Conference provides Council and the City an opportunity to advocate to the province for our top priorities and to demonstrate that, as the third largest city in Ontario, with the second largest urban economy, we need and deserve our fair share of funding and investments. At the same time, we are able to build relationships with the provincial government and show that we are willing partners to build a better province. The City of Mississauga put our best foot forward at AMO and left no doubt about our priorities and the importance of Mississauga to Ontario.” – Mayor Carolyn Parrish, City of Mississauga

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