Mayor Ann Lawlor's September 2023 Message

What does a small town mayor say when given the rare opportunity to share ideas with the Prime Minister?

The pleasure (and excitement) was mine a few weeks ago when MP Adam Van Koeverden invited Councillor Jason Brass and me to his Milton constituency office to meet Prime Minister Trudeau. The PM was in the region for several stops and wanted to engage in a candid discussion about issues that matter most in our town.

Several items came to mind as worthy of discussion with our national head of government, such as: cost of living and inflationary increases affecting personal as well as local government buying capacity; local impacts of climate change and severe weather; or how to fix municipal finances to address the disparity between local responsibilities and income to cover municipal expenses. Asking for more help with the costs of local transportation and recreation and parks facilities were other needs that could have been raised.

Discussing one subject with the PM would have greater impact than several, so I decided to focus on the challenge of housing. The Region of Halton just published a State of Housing Report which clearly underscores the shortage of attainable and affordable housing in our community.

The private market is not delivering the full range of housing that our residents need and so I used this unique opportunity to call upon the federal government to step in and support construction of purpose-built rental homes to accommodate seniors, singles, and young families. In Halton Hills, we don’t require federal assistance to build million-dollar single family dwellings. What we need are homes that ordinary people can afford at various stages of their lives.

Now, if I were given the chance to speak with our provincial premier, the message would be yes, we need more homes now. But we should resist the temptation to sprawl. Halton Hills residents are proud of our unique blend of urban and rural landscapes and our small town character. There is capacity to build new homes within our existing urban area without encroaching on the Greenbelt and fertile farmlands. Preserving both land uses is essential for a healthy future.

It is a privilege to meet with senior officials such as the Prime Minister to advocate for our community and as your mayor, I will seize every opportunity to do just that.