Dedicated listeners to Burlington council meetings will often hear our mayor talk about the “Municipal Growth Framework.” The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) is taking an active role in promoting this new framework, and Burlington’s own, Rory Nisan, was recently re-elected to the FCM Board of Directors.
This quote is from FCM’s website:
“FCM is requesting Ottawa to convene all orders of government to come together and develop a Municipal Growth Framework. With a new, diverse, predictable and more equitable way to fund local governments, municipalities will be better positioned to give Canadians the quality of life they expect and deserve.”[1]
As I understand the Municipal Growth Framework, the federal and provincial governments are being asked to contribute to municipal budgets. FCM states, “Municipalities do not benefit directly from taxes on goods and services, incomes and capital gains.”[2]
On July 24th, 2025, the Fraser Institute released a study headlined “Canada’s combined federal-provincial government debt estimated to reach $2.3 trillion in 2025/26”.[3]
One has to ask, exactly where will the federal and provincial governments find additional funds to give to municipalities? The federal government is spending almost as much on debt servicing charges (interest payments) as on health care transfers.
The federal government reports that “Public debt charges are now forecast to reach $53.7 billion for 2024-25 (or 1.8 per cent of GDP)—$0.4 billion below the Budget 2024 forecast of $54.1 billion”[4]
Looking at the debt and service charges as an amount per person is a way to gain perspective when dealing with large numbers. Statistics Canada reports that our population is estimated to be 41,548,787[5]. Looking at the debt servicing charges on a per-person basis, this works out to $1,292 per person per year in interest payments.
Click here to have a look at the Canadian Debt Clock.
Where the Federal debt is now estimated at $1,352 billion, or $32,764.49 for each Canadian.
As we continue through the Trump era, serious demands are being placed on the federal budget. While FCM’s goal of “protecting the quality of life we deserve” is admirable, Prime Minister Carney’s goal of raising defence spending to 5% of GDP may get in the way.
Looping back to FCM’s Municipal Growth Framework, the concept of additional funding from the federal government may be a non-starter.
That leaves the province.
The province is reporting that 16,176,977 people now live in Ontario.[6]
The province is projecting $15.2 billion in interest and other debt service charges. The works out to $939.00 per person per year.[7]
The total debt in Ontario is $428.12[8] billion or about $26,464 per person.
Good news, each person in Ontario only owes $59,228.49 in combined Federal and Provincial Debt. The combined debt services charges amount to $2,231 per person per year.
With the federal and provincial governments spending more than they earn, year after year, just how realistic is the Municipal Growth Framework?
Is it wrong to suggest our councillors focus on the Burlington budget increase of 5.8% rather than chasing a pot of gold at the end of a bankrupt rainbow?
At the end of the day, there is only one taxpayer, paying federal, provincial and municipal taxes.
Perhaps Councillor Nisan can discuss this problem at a future FCM Board Meeting.
[1] https://fcm.ca/en/focus-areas/municipal-growth-framework
[2] https://media.fcm.ca/municipal-growth-framework-backgrounder.pdf
[3] https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/growing-debt-burden-canadians-2025-edition?utm_source=Email&utm_campaign=Growing-Debt-Burden-Canada-2025&utm_medium=Dev_email&utm_content=Learn_More&utm_term=531
[4] https://budget.canada.ca/update-miseajour/2024/report-rapport/anx2-en.html
[5] https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/250618/dq250618a-eng.htm
[6] https://www.ontario.ca/page/ontario-demographic-quarterly-highlights-first-quarter#section-0
[7] https://budget.ontario.ca/2025/chapter-3.html#:~:text=Ontario%20is%20forecast%20to%20pay,Table%203.2%20footnotes:
[8] https://www.ofina.on.ca/borrowing_debt/debt.htm
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