I serve my community by sitting on Village of Silverton council, Regional District of Central Kootenay board, and Federation of Canadian Municipalities board of directors.
With election day coming up fast, it is important to evaluate if local candidates are pledging to empower local governments.
Responsible for 60 per cent of Canadian infrastructure with access to only 10 cents on every tax dollar, local governments tackle the challenges that are closest to Canadians’ day-to-day lives. This includes everything from roads and bridges to community centres, water filtration and waste management.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ election platform is a fully-costed plan to build better lives for Canadians by empowering the governments closest to their daily challenges. Key proposals include a permanent doubling of the gas tax fund transfer and ensuring that all government policies adopt a rural lens to take the needs of smaller and more remote communities into account.
In addition, FCM is challenging all political parties to tackle housing affordability, and protect Canadians from the impact of climate change and natural disasters.
Read FCM’s platform at BuildingBetterLives.ca for more information, and please consider the importance of local infrastructure and services when you cast your ballot.
Leah Main
Silverton