What is the Federation of Canadian Municipalities?

Many municipalities across Canada contribute to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), including Burlington and Hamilton. Our estimates indicate that Burlington contributed $41,416 in 2024. What services does FCM provide?

Across Canada, municipalities paid $7,873,200 in membership fees to FCM (2025).

FCM has over $350 million in cash and short-term investments and employs approximately 125 people.

 What does FCM do?

From the information available on the FCM website, FCM has two main focuses.

1 – FCM manages the Green Municipal Fund

The Green Municipal Fund has over $1 billion in assets, which is over and above $350 million FCM has. The Federal Government provides funding for the Green Municipal Fund. FCM is responsible for awarding grants and loans from this fund. In other words, the federal government gives money to a not-for-profit; in turn, the not-for-profit, based on rules, gives or loans that money to other groups.

2 – The FCM runs the following programs:

Municipal Asset Management Program
Resources to help you strengthen your asset management practices.
“This eight-year, $110-million program is funded by the Government of Canada and delivered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities”
Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program
Build sustainable and reliable services in your community while you tackle climate change and its effects.
“This five-year, $75 million program has supported more than 600 municipalities like yours as you work to update your infrastructure and address climate change.”
Women in Local Government
Closing the gender gap in municipal governments.
Canadian Women in Local Leadership
“The program was funded by the Government of Canada through Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE).”
Toward Parity in Municipal Politics
“This three-year initiative (2018-2021) was funded by Women and Gender Equality Canada.”
First Nation-Municipal Community Economic Development Initiative
Leading First Nation-Municipal Collaboration

International Programs
Partnerships for Municipal Innovation – Women in Local Leadership (PMI-WILL)
“FCM and Canadian municipal experts are working with partners in Benin, Cambodia, Ghana, Sri Lanka, and Zambia to strengthen local governance systems”
Building Inclusive Green Municipalities (South Africa)
Haiti Digitalization of Land Registry Project
Inclusive Climate Action for Tunisian Municipalities (ICATM)
Jordan Municipal Support Project
Municipal Cooperation Program (Haiti)
Partnership for Local Economic Development and Democratic Governance (Ukraine)
Partnerships for Municipal Innovation – Local Economic Development (Africa, Asia, Latin America)
Sustainable and Inclusive Communities in Latin America
The Vietnam Climate Resilient Municipalities Project
Tunisia: Inclusive Municipal Leadership
Vietnam Municipal Solid Waste Management Project
 
Foreign Aid is Important
Thirteen thousand people work for the federal government in the foreign aid department. FCM appears to be taking an active role in this area. Overlapping government programs may not be an efficient way to deliver foreign aid.
Climate Change is Important
Burlington and Hamilton are also members of the Bay Area Climate Council. Burlington contributes $56,000 a year, Hamilton $160,000 a year, to support the Bay Area Climate Council.[i]

This YouTube video is taken from the Bay Area Climate Council Meeting held on May 7^th, 2024 and shows Burlington Councillors Nisan and Galbraith walking through a forest that Alinea, a developer, will be turning into a “complete community”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDKrDJrDIMU

You can watch the full meeting here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGojzhc_LzI
 
Another climate group, Burlington Green, is funded by the City of Burlington for about $62,000 a year.[3]

Burlington residents are contributing $160,000 a year to these three organizations alone.

Hamilton also has Green Ventures, and taxpayers contribute about $65,000 a year[4].
“Green Venture inspires and equips Hamilton residents to take individual and collective action to preserve our natural environment, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and build a community resilient to climate change.”

Hamilton and taxpayers are contributing $350,00 a year, in total, to FCM, BACC, and Green Ventures, all while the lights are being removed from baseball diamonds due to a lack of funding.

I had always assumed a group of Canadian municipalities would be sharing best practices for complex problems, such as transit, or helping to drive more efficient municipal government. Another possibility was a group purchasing organization to negotiate lower prices for its members. None of the above.

FCM appears to be just another taxpayer-funded organization leading us instead of representing us.

This is a list of organizations that we can find that are supported by the City of Burlington. The budget does not provide information at this level; there are likely to be many more. If you know of any others, please comment below.

Is it time for a zero-based budgeting approach in Burlington?

[1] https://pub-rdek.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=27308

[2] https://pub-hamilton.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=149082

[3] https://burlingtongazette.ca/burlingtongreen-funded-62000-for-this-year-mayor-to-consider-adding-to-the-amount-in-her-2025-budget/

[4] https://pub-hamilton.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=304950