GTHA Mayors and Chairs call for continued federal and provincial COVID-19 emergency financial support

HAMILTON, ON - Today, Mayors and Chairs from the 11 largest municipal governments across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area held their regular meeting to discuss the ongoing response to COVID-19 across the region.

This week, we will be advocating with our municipal colleagues from across Ontario and Canada for continued support from the provincial and federal governments into 2022. As we all look ahead to our 2022 municipal budgets, we are forecasting challenges similar to 2021 caused by the pandemic, including in particular reduced transit ridership.

Throughout the pandemic and with the support of other governments, municipalities have invested emergency funding in much-needed services that were crucial to the effort to fight COVID-19 including public health, housing and homelessness, and support for residents and businesses. At the same time, we have worked to keep all frontline municipal services, including our transit systems, operating. This continued delivery of essential services will be needed as we finish delivering the largest vaccination effort in Canadian history and work to make sure the economy comes back stronger than ever. The continued financial support of the other governments is more crucial than ever in allowing us to continue this work.

Many of the GTHA Mayors will be participating this week in the Big City Mayors Caucus meeting in Ottawa with federal counterparts and the Ontario Big City Mayors meeting. We will be raising the need for continued support which benefitted all residents and businesses over the last 18 months of the pandemic.

Every government has worked together throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to help residents and businesses through these tough times. It is our hope that cooperation will continue into 2022 for the good for the entire GTHA and all the residents and businesses who call this region home.

In this regard we welcome the opportunity to work with the Government of Ontario to map out a broader and more encompassing reopening plan including the initiation of consistent and easily administered standards for all sectors of the economy and all Ontario residents.

“As more and more Hamiltonians are vaccinated, a consistent approach to gathering limits is needed across all business sectors everywhere in the GTHA.  As we begin to resume activities, it remains important to continue to follow the Public Health guidelines such as masking, hand-washing, and physical distancing to keep ourselves, family, friends and community safe. The Big City Mayor’s Caucus is meeting in Ottawa this week to discuss a strong and inclusive recovery and we are looking for a strong federal partner in this work.”

- Mayor Fred Eisenberger