To meet the challenges our residents face will require a change in how municipalities are funded. The issues affecting quality of life in our communities have changed and are more complex than ever, but the funding formal hasn’t been updated in over 150 years. We are ready to do more - and residents expect us to address the problems we face - and we cannot rely on the property tax base alone to solve these issues. It was inspiring to join leaders in academics, policy, municipal government and industry across the country today to talk about a new municipal growth framework to ensure residents get the services they need, in a timely manner, with less red tape. Today’s summit was sponsored by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and I was honoured to attend in my capacity as Chair of Ontario’s BIg City Mayor’s Caucus. Great to hear from Olivia Chow, Mayor of Toronto; Mike Savage, Mayor of Halifax and Chair of the FCM’s Big City Mayor’s Caucus; and talk with Rowena Santos, Brampton City & Regional Councillor; Diane Therrien, former Mayor of Peterborough and now a senior research officer at CUPE; Karen Redmond, Chair of Mayors and Regional Chairs of Ontario and more, on these critical issues. Huge thanks to Carole Saab, CEO of FCM, and her team for putting this summit together and for your vision for a new deal for cities.