2026 Policy Highlights

Municipalities understand their communities best and need a collaborative provincial partner who does not overreach into municipal jurisdiction

  • The provincial government is increasingly making unilateral decisions that should either be left up to municipalities or be made through municipal-provincial collaboration. 
  • Changes to the OMERS pension plan, Conservation Authorities, and speed cameras are just a few examples. 
  • ROMA is calling on the provincial government to reset this relationship and work together as two orders of government.  

ROMA and AMO are united on need for a new provincial-municipal fiscal framework   

  • Municipalities deliver the essential front-line services that drive Ontario’s economy and prosperity, from water and electricity to emergency, health, and social services, yet the provincial-municipal funding framework is broken. Municipalities’ fiscal capacity has reached its limit. Since 2024, Ontario’s municipalities have been asking the province to sit down and discuss the increasing challenge they face in paying for and delivering the services residents and businesses rely on.
  • Specifically, we have called on the province to: 
    • Provide municipalities with long-term, substantial, and predictable infrastructure funding. 
    • Fully fund provincial responsibilities like health and social services. 
    • Work with municipal and federal partners to address the homelessness crisis. 

Rural communities need big changes to address infrastructure challenges 

  • Rural municipalities lack funding to invest in infrastructure for today, and for future growth. Rural communities have smaller populations and limited tax bases, yet higher construction costs. They are separated by vast geography and have limited ability to increase property taxes.
  • ROMA successfully secured an additional $419 million in rural infrastructure funding through a $50M top-up of the Ontario Municipal Partnership fund and $369 million through the Housing Enabling Water Systems Fund last year. 
  • Long-term infrastructure challenges can’t be tackled with time-limited programs. 
  • Structural funding changes are needed. ROMA is calling on the province to: 
    • Review the provincial-municipal funding structure created back in the 1990s when responsibilities for roads, bridges and dams were downloaded onto rural communities.    
    • Extend the Building Faster Fund and maintain a rural carve-out.
    • Bring together existing funding programs into a long-term, substantial, predictable transfer that enables municipalities to address infrastructure needs now and for the future.
    • Support municipalities in delivering value for money by modernizing technology, providing lower-cost financing, offering new technical guidance, and streamlining applications and reporting processes.

ROMA urges practical solutions for growing homelessness crisis

  • AMO’s updated homelessness report, “Municipalities Under Pressure: One Year Later”, shows that homelessness across Ontario grew by almost 8 percent in 2025, and at an even faster rate in rural and northern areas. 
    • Rural homelessness has grown by more than 30% in the last year. 
    • In Northern Ontario, homelessness has risen by an estimated 37%. 
  • Without action, homelessness is projected to double in the next ten years or grow to nearly 300,000 in an economic downturn. 
  • Municipalities are doing their part – municipal spending on homelessness and affordable housing has increased substantially.
  • Ending chronic homelessness requires a new approach that prioritizes long-term housing solutions over temporary emergency measures and enforcement-based responses, including: 
    • To end chronic homelessness, an additional $11 billion over ten years to address chronic homelessness through re-focusing investments into capital, increasing focus on prevention, and creating more than 75,000 new affordable and supportive housing units. 
    • An additional $2 billion over eight years to tackle the immediate priority of ensuring all encampment residents are appropriately housed. 
  • •    Additionally, we need: 
    • Continued federal funding through the National Housing Strategy to maintain critical programs like the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit. 
    • Collaboration between all orders of Government to ensure our homelessness and housing dollars are having the biggest impact, including coordinating data and outcomes across programs, connecting services, and tracking every dollar from investment to impact. 

ROMA continues to advocate for better rural access to primary healthcare 

  • ROMA has prioritized health care advocacy work for 2026, including the development of a rural access to health strategy that builds off ROMA’s Fill the Gaps report from 2023.
  • An estimated 2.5 million Ontarians don’t have access to a family doctor – including around 525,000 people from rural communities.
  • In rural communities, care is less accessible. More than 670,000 Ontarians who do have a family doctor must travel at least 50 kilometres to see them. 
  • ROMA is optimistic about the province’s Primary Care Action Plan. However, challenges remain in rural communities. 
  • While funding for Family Health Teams covers staffing costs, it does not fund the capital space needed to expand – space that can be hard to find in rural Ontario. 
  • Municipalities are increasingly using property tax dollars to attract physicians instead of a coordinated province-led approach, as the Auditor General recently recommended.

The OMERS pension plan is important to municipalities: it is a recruitment and retention tool and a valuable benefit for our employees.

  • ROMA and AMO remain concerned about the province’s recent OMERS governance changes:
    • Municipalities have less of a voice in the pension plan that we fund and rely on.
    • These changes could lead to higher costs for municipalities. We cannot afford new costs without increasing taxes or cutting services.
  • This is another example of provincial overreach into areas of municipal responsibility without a clear rationale or a full understanding of impacts.
  • The current OMERS structure is working; it provides predictability and stability. The current structure balances independence, accountability, and fairness across different employers and employees.
  • Pensions need to stay independent and accountable. They cannot be politicized.
  • We are asking you to work with AMO and the other plan sponsors to chart a path forward that limits major changes and protects the long-term interests of municipalities, taxpayers, and employees.

Legal ruling that Ontario’s Drainage Act applies to national railways

  • In a landmark decision for rural Ontario in 2025, the Ontario Court of the Drainage Referee has decided that Ontario’s Drainage Act is applicable to the federal railways and like all landowners, they must pay their fair share for municipal drainage work apportioned to their property.
  • ROMA showed compelling evidence that railway corporations have systematically disregarded laws that have governed drainage in Ontario for 150 years. ROMA illustrated the financial, economic, and environmental impact this behaviour has had on rural communities and argued the constitutional issue at the heart of the case – namely the responsibility of federally regulated industries to respect provincial laws. 
  • ROMA will continue to fight back against railway companies that believe they are above Ontario law by offering legal support in any future appeals by Canadian Pacific Rail.
  • Municipalities have an important role as work continues on broadband connectivity
  • Reliable, high-speed internet is no longer a luxury – it's a necessity. It's crucial for work, education, healthcare, and staying connected.
  • Municipalities played a key role in securing more than $4 billion of federal and provincial investment to deliver high speed access across Ontario. But as a result of ongoing trade and tariff negotiations, the goal of delivering broadband to all Ontario residents by 2025 has been delayed until 2028.
  • Municipalities have a key role in rolling out of broadband, working with Internet Service Providers to support timely approvals. ROMA’s support includes:
    • Helping ISPs and other partners understand municipal processes and priorities and encouraging early engagement.
    • Helping municipalities anticipate and plan for speedy approvals to make broadband a reality for all Ontario residents by 2028.
    • Providing supports for implementation like a streamlined Municipal Access Agreement template to help mitigate municipal risks.

ROMA supports municipal role in energy projects

  • Communities need clean, reliable, and affordable energy to support housing and economic growth. 
  • Municipalities are also on the frontlines of the climate crisis. Extreme weather events are putting greater strain on municipalities, contributing to costly and more frequent infrastructure repairs, and increased pressure on emergency services. 
  • Local governments support exploring new ways to provide reliable, long-term funding for energy distribution and transmission projects. Innovations should better deliver energy to residents and businesses, maintain public ownership of utilities, and minimize financial burdens on municipalities and ratepayers.
  • ROMA supports the province’s decision to ensure municipalities continue to have a say in siting and hosting local energy projects. Energy project planning must consider factors like health and safety, farmland protection, and community benefit.
  • AMO’s Guidance Resources for Electricity Procurements support local decision-making on the IESO’s ongoing electricity procurements.

Municipal partnership is key to transforming Conservation Authorities 

  • Conservation Authorities play a vital role in the lives of Ontarians. They ensure orderly land development and protection of people, properties, and property values by directing development and human activity away from natural hazards and floodplains.
  • The province has proposed consolidating the existing 36 conservation authorities into seven regional conservation authorities and the creation of a provincial oversight agency – the Ontario Provincial Conservation Agency.
  • This restructuring could result in regional areas that are too large and difficult to manage well. It also risks losing what makes conservation authorities effective: local expertise, effective municipal oversight, and strong local relationships.
  • ROMA supports AMO in calling for the province to collaborate with stakeholders to resolve foundational governance and funding gaps, including the restoration of the 50% provincial funding share.
  • Ontario needs new ways to manage rising policing costs
  • Police spending in both OPP-serviced municipalities and those with municipal police services have increased significantly since 2023. 
  • Provincial action to cap the growth of OPP costs in 2026 is a helpful first step, but one-off funding commitments do not support long-term financial planning. 
  • ROMA is calling for a new provincial-municipal fiscal framework that recognizes that municipal budgets are strained by rising costs for policing, homelessness, and other complex social challenges. These cost pressures are reducing municipal capacity to invest in infrastructure and core services.

For more information, contact:
Brian Lambie, ROMA Media Contact, 416-729-5425, lambie@redbrick.ca 
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