New AMO Advocacy on Homelessness, Opioids, and Water Infrastructure Demonstrate the Critical Need for Social and Economic Prosperity Review

AMO Continues to Advocate for a Social and Economic Prosperity Review  

Earlier this year, AMO and nearly 150 of its members called on the provincial government to commit to a Social and Economic Prosperity Review to fix the broken provincial-municipal fiscal framework. AMO is now calling on the provincial government to commit to this joint review at the 2024 AMO Conference in August. 

AMO is pleased to share new tools to support the next chapter of advocacy on this important initiative, including: 

• Updated messaging highlighting the need for action on municipal fiscal sustainability to address the things Ontarians care most about – like housing affordability, healthcare, cost of living and public safety 
• A template letter to provincial Ministers 

We hope that you share widely and use this material to engage with fellow council members, MPPs, and community members in communicating why this challenge is urgent, province-wide, and central to Ontario’s social and economic prosperity.  

Call for Provincial and Federal Action on Homeless Encampments  

Nowhere is the need to fix the provincial-municipal fiscal framework more clear than in responding to the homelessness crisis. 

While municipalities did not create the homelessness crisis, they are being forced to manage it without the resources or tools to sufficiently respond. Municipalities are often caught balancing the important needs of unsheltered people living in encampments, who deserve to be treated with empathy and respect, and a responsibility to ensure our communities are safe and vibrant places for all residents. 

To support conversations at Council, with communities, and with provincial and federal governments, AMO is pleased to share the following resources: 

• Homeless Encampments in Ontario:  A Municipal Perspective – This paper illustrates the complex situations municipalities are managing while calling on the provincial and federal governments for leadership and action. 
• Key messages from the AMO paper to help provide context for local discussions. 
• Social media cards to highlight urgent needs like provincial guidance to municipalities on how to manage encampments in an increasingly complex legal landscape. 

Call for Provincial Action on the Opioid Crisis 

More than 2500 Ontarians died due to opioids in 2023, in communities big and small across the province. Increasingly, divisive rhetoric is distracting from much needed government action and leadership. 

AMO collaborated with key partners from the health, justice, business and social services sectors to develop The Opioid Crisis:  A Municipal Perspective. This paper seeks to re-focus attention on evidence-based solutions across the four pillars of prevention, treatment, enforcement and harm reduction.

Please also find attached the following resources to understand what this crisis is doing to your community and to call attention to the need to act, including: 

• Local information on opioid deaths in your municipality  
• Key messages from the AMO paper to help provide context for local discussions 
• Social media cards to highlight the need for evidence-based solutions

Water and Wastewater Municipal Services Corporations  

Over the next 10 years, Ontario’s municipalities are planning to make more than $250 billion in capital investments to support growth, and replace and renew aging assets, including water and wastewater infrastructure. What role can and should municipal services corporations for water and wastewater play in supporting growth and delivering this critical public service?  

AMO and MFOA have developed a backgrounder for municipalities on municipal services corporations for water and wastewater.

This municipal resource includes:  

• Facts about MSCs for water and wastewater.  
• The benefits, strategic considerations and risks related to governance, finance, and planning.  
• Examples of four existing MSCs.  

Municipal services corporations won’t work for every municipality. AMO firmly believes that to make the best long-term decisions for residents, communities and the economy, decisions around delivering water and wastewater through a municipal services corporation should be led by the municipal sector.