City of Burlington Advocates for its Strategic Priorities at Provincial Conference
Burlington, Ont.—Aug. 21, 2025— City of Burlington’s mayor, some councillors and staff recently attended the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) 2025 Annual General Meeting and Conference in Ottawa to meet with provincial government leaders.
The City delegation, led by Mayor Marianne Meed Ward, sought to advance Burlington’s top strategic priorities, such as environmental sustainability, economic health and housing, with provincial leaders to encouraging outcomes.
Burlington representatives met with government officials including cabinet ministers, MPPs and industry contributors to discuss and advocate for housing affordability; protecting local greenspaces; providing predictable infrastructure and transit funding to municipalities; local economic growth and skills development.
Strategic discussions took place with:
Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the Honourable Rob Flack
Minister of Transportation, the Honourable Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria
Minister of Energy and Mines, the Honourable Stephen Lecce
Minister of Natural Resources, the Honourable Mike Harris
Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security, the Honourable Nolan Quinn
Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Finance, M.P.P. Michelle Cooper
Outcomes from these delegation meetings include:
Burlington Skyway Bridge
Ministry of Transportation (MTO) officials recognized the ongoing need for careful coordination with City of Burlington to communicate and ease local traffic impacts. Next steps will include more communication from the MTO to drivers and looking at additional mitigation measures during Burlington Skyway Bridge lane closures. This will work towards the City’s goal to minimize spillover impacts during necessary maintenance.
Address housing affordability and homelessness
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH) confirmed that the review of City of Burlington’s Official Plan Amendment No. 2 will soon be complete that will enable the advancement of several key housing development approval improvements including the adoption of a Community Permitting and Planning System (CPPS) that would simplify multiple pre-application documents into a single application. This will enable the City to prepare a CPP Bylaw for the City’s three MTSAs.
Protecting local greenspaces
Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) staff engaged in strategic dialogue with the Burlington delegation around advancing the options to protect areas around Mount Nemo and the Niagara Escarpment. This significant Burlington greenspace could be protected by using provincial land designations that would prohibit or limit certain types of land uses and aggregate extractions. Burlington requested that the province redesignate the lands at Mount Nemo as Escarpment Natural and Escarpment Protection to ensure the long-term viability of our local ecosystems.
Mohawk College expansion to Burlington
Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security (MCURES) officials discussed the college’s planned healthcare-focused campus expansion into the City of Burlington with Burlington’s delegation and Mohawk College President, Paul Armstrong. Moving forward, MCURES remains strategically engaged with the college and the City in the planning process for this transformative investment to advance skills development and grow Ontario’s economy.
Electricity Infrastructure
The Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) team engaged in a lengthy discussion with Burlington delegates to better understand local energy infrastructure challenges and its impacts on municipal housing starts. The group engaged in conversations with City staff about the actions and investments required to support Burlington and its development partners in unlocking further housing potential through electricity infrastructure. They came to a mutual recognition that additional provincial resources may be required to advance prospective projects, particularly in Burlington’s Major Transit Station Areas (MTSAs).
Strengthening the Municipal-Provincial Fiscal Relationship to Protect Our Communities
Ministry of Finance (MOF) officials recognized the challenging impacts that current economic conditions are having on municipalities and provided assurances that municipalities will be eligible for future components of the province’s $5B Building Ontario Fund so planned municipal priority projects can proceed on time and on budget.
The Burlington delegation, Ward 1 Councillor Kelvin Galbraith, Ward 3 Councillor Rory Nisan, Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman; Ward 6 Councillor Angelo Bentivegna; CAO Curt Benson; Head of Corporate Affairs, Leah Bortolotti and Corporate Strategic Leads of Government Relations, Jayson Doll and Paul Szachlewicz, participated in strategic meetings and conference programming relevant to Burlington’s Strategic Plan priorities.
Mayor Meed Ward serves as the Chair of Ontario’s Big City Mayors (OBCM) and led OBCM’s discussions with:
Deputy Premier, and Minister of Health, the Honourable Sylvia Jones
Minister of Finance, the Honourable Peter Bethlenfalvy
Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the Honourable Rob Flack
Minister of Infrastructure, the Honourable Kinga Surma
Attorney General, the Honourable Doug Downey
Solicitor General, the Honourable Michael Kerzner
Associate Attorney General, the Honourable Michael Tibollo
Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, the Honourable Vijay Thanigasalam
Burlington was one of more than 24 of Ontario’s largest municipalities, whose delegates delivered a united voice on shared municipal issues with the Ministries of Infrastructure, Health, Finance, Municipal Affairs and Housing, and Attorney General and Solicitor General.
The Province of Ontario Government made these announcements responding directly to key municipal priorities for AMO members:
The Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program (MHIP) will invest an additional $1.6 billion to speed up construction on homes and critical infrastructure. This investment nearly doubles the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program (MHIP) to $4 billion, building on the province’s most recent $400 million increase in the 2025 provincial budget and giving municipalities and Indigenous communities the resources to build roads, bridges and water systems for new housing.
The new Capital Funding Program (CFP) will build more long-term care homes faster, especially in regions like the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) and northern Ontario impacted by labour shortages, supply chain constraints and other challenges. This new funding model is part of the government’s plan to protect Ontario by creating good jobs and building for the future, while making sure seniors get the quality of care and quality of life they need and deserve.
The province’s $1.2B Building Faster Fund (BFF) eligibility criteria will be amended to better reflect current market conditions and the efforts of local municipalities to achieve provincially mandated housing starts. The BFF provides $400 million in annual funding for three years (2024-26) to municipalities that are on target to meet provincial housing targets by 2031. Municipalities that reach 80 per cent of their annual target each year become eligible for funding based on their share of the overall goal of 1.5 million homes. Municipalities that exceed their target receive a bonus on top of their allocation.
The City of Burlington will continue to advocate to all levels of government to advance the strategic priorities of Council and looks forward to future opportunities to engage with both federal and provincial officials.
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Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward“The AMO Conference is an invaluable opportunity to speak directly with provincial leaders about the priorities that matter most to Burlington residents — from housing and infrastructure to traffic mitigation and environmental protection. Our delegation had productive, solutions-focused conversations, and I’m encouraged by the province’s willingness to listen, collaborate and act. We committed to further action together on these matters, ensuring meaningful progress for our community.”
Quick Facts
Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO)
AMO is a non-profit organization representing most 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, Burlington 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.This year’s conference had over 3,000 attendees in Ottawa for three days of education, delegation meetings and networking opportunities.
Ontario’s Big City Mayors
Ontario’s Big City Mayors (OBCM) is a non-partisan organization that includes mayors of 29 single and lower-tier cities with a population of 100,000 or more, who collectively represent nearly 70 percent of Ontario’s population. OBCM advocates for issues and policies important to Ontario’s largest cities.
Photo
From left to right: Burlington Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman, Mohawk College President, Paul Armstrong, Burlington Ward 6 Councillor, Angelo Bentivegna, Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward, and Burlington Chief Administrative Officer, Curt Benson, at the Rogers Centre in Ottawa for the 2025 AMO Conference.
Links and Resources
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Media contact:
City of Burlington Communications
communications@burlington.ca