Large Urban Mayors’ Caucus launches a new name: Ontario’s Big City Mayors

Posted on Aug 10, 2020

Guelph, ON, August 10, 2020 – The Mayors of Ontario’s 29 biggest cities, formerly known as the Large Urban Mayors’ Caucus of Ontario (LUMCO), has changed its name to Ontario’s Big City Mayors (OBCM).

 

“We are excited to announce a new name and identity that better reflects who we are and what we bring to the table as a municipal sector partner,” says Guelph’s Mayor Cam Guthrie, the Chair of Ontario’s Big City Mayors. “While our name has changed, our role as the voice of Ontario’s biggest cities remains the same.”

 

The members of OBCM, who collectively represent nearly 70 per cent of the province’s population, advance the needs of strong and effective cities through policy development, advocacy, discussion, and partnerships.

 

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Ontario’s Big City Mayors met regularly with federal and provincial cabinet ministers to provide the big-city perspective on issues ranging from transit impacts to the need for supports for vulnerable people. The Mayors urged the Prime Minister and Premier to come to the table with emergency operating funding to enable municipalities to maintain services in the face of plummeting revenues and unforeseen costs. This advocacy, in partnership with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and other organizations, helped secure $19 billion for municipalities, with $4 billion for Ontario municipalities and transit systems.

 

OBCM also successfully urged the Ontario government to reconsider retroactive budget cuts to municipalities in 2019. For several years, Ontario’s Big City Mayors have provided thoughtful and trusted input to provincial and federal partners on big-city issues such as housing and homelessness, the opioid crisis, the infrastructure funding gap, and transit and transportation.

 

“I want to thank the governments of Canada and Ontario for their willingness to listen to and engage with Ontario’s Big City Mayors, particularly during the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis,” says Guthrie. “We look forward to continuing to grow and strengthen those relationships under our new name.”

 

Ontario’s Big City Mayors can be found online at ontariobigcitymayors.ca. The current Chair is Guelph’s Mayor Cam Guthrie, and the Vice-Chair is Mayor Jeff Lehman, City of Barrie.

 

For more information:

Cam Guthrie

Chair, Ontario’s Big City Mayors

Mayor, City of Guelph

mayor@guelph.ca

519-837-5643