2025 Federal Election - Future in Focus: Building Guelph Together

On this page

Introduction

The City of Guelph is pleased to present its advocacy priorities for the upcoming federal election. As economic uncertainty threatens worker and business security, we continue to face broad systemic issues including rising housing prices, aging infrastructure, and municipal funding shortfalls.

The key priorities that Guelph is amplifying throughout the 2025 federal election are for the federal government to:

Provide investments, guidance, and support to strengthen municipal economic resiliency
Foster collaborative growth through funding and other support for housing and infrastructure
Work with all levels of government towards a renewed, sustainable, and predictable Municipal Fiscal Framework

As you read through the calls to action below, we encourage you to click on each one to learn more about how the incoming federal government can support Guelph in addressing local priorities.

City of Guelph 2025 Federal Election Priorities

Economic Resiliency

Call to Action #1

Support municipalities with guidance and investments to navigate trade and tariff uncertainty and maintain strong local economies.

The Challenges:

Guelph is a major manufacturing hub in Southwestern Ontario, with many businesses highly oriented to trade with the United States. Guelph has the 4th highest per capita exports to the U.S. of any Canadian city, with roughly 16,000 manufacturing jobs which are at risk from trade and tariff uncertainty. In addition to the major employers which trade directly with the U.S., there are many local and regional manufacturing and service suppliers which work within low margins and are highly vulnerable to any disruptions in trade and demand. Disruptions to the manufacturing sector in Guelph may have wide-reaching negative implications for the entire community.

Opportunities for Federal Support and Collaboration:

In the immediate term, the City of Guelph calls on the incoming federal government to:
- Continue offering financial supports to businesses and workers facing impacts imposed by tariffs, to maintain the wellbeing of manufacturing communities such as Guelph.
- Provide guidance to municipalities and businesses to inform purchasing and procurement decisions, which support Canadian businesses while respecting international trade agreements.
- Consult with municipalities to ensure that any negative impacts of economic countermeasures on communities are minimized.
In the longer term, there are opportunities to make investments into community economic resilience:
- Make investments into trade-enabling transportation and infrastructure to unlock employment lands to make Canadian businesses and communities more competitive and resilient to global uncertainty.
- Develop a long-term investment strategy to boost Canadian supply chains for municipal procurement, which would allow over 5000 municipalities across the country to obtain domestic goods needed to deliver services to our communities.

Call to Action #2

Provide funding and in-kind support to address potential gaps in local services that may arise, as resources are diverted to challenges arising from the new U.S. administration.

The Challenges:

Beyond the immediate economic impacts of the uncertain Canada-U.S. relations on the community, there are potential trickle-down effects that may impact municipal operations and affordability. One potential impact that is already being seen in some provinces is the increased use of municipal law enforcement to combat illegal drug trade. Guelph Police Service personnel are the first line of response to fentanyl and other illegal drug trafficking in our community, and with Guelph’s policing costs increasing by over 30 per cent in the last four years, any potential direction to increase enforcement will have impacts on affordability.

Another side effect of uncertain international relations is a potential increase in the number of asylum seekers coming into Canada. A strong social services system is essential to support safe resettlement of and wellbeing of newcomers. However, as the City’s contributions to the local social services manager have increased by over 80 per cent in five years, and local shelters are already approaching capacity, there is an urgent need for social service investments.

Opportunities for Federal Support and Collaboration:
- Operational and funding support for local law enforcement, that ensures that local property tax payers are not faced with increased affordability challenges due to increased policing requirements for national issues.
- Intergovernmental collaboration which sees that federal decisions on immigration are supported with provincial funding for municipalities and social service providers, and ensures that newcomers are appropriately supported with housing and social services.

In Focus: Trade-Enabling Infrastructure

The Guelph Junction Railway (GJR) is an excellent example of municipal trade-enabling infrastructure where federal investments would spur economic growth. The GJR operates nearly 40km of track within the City of Guelph and Wellington County, and is a major economic asset connecting manufacturers to cost-effective bulk shipping from coast to coast, and reporting consistent year over year growth. At the time of the most recent evaluation in 2017, GJR-supported businesses provided at least 650 jobs, and the GJR directly contributed at least $2.7 million to the local economy. Since 2017, GJR has made major leaps and has continued to expand its customer base.

As tariffs pose major challenges to local businesses, the GJR is an avenue for manufactures to tap into the national rail network, expand trade within Canada, and access seaports for international markets. However, rail operations are also subject to economic disruptions – many of the materials that the GJR relies on can currently only be sourced from the U.S., which means that operating and customer costs are likely to increase as tariffs come into effect. Federal funding support for the GJR is one of the many opportunities for the incoming government to support community economic resiliency, and increase the competitiveness of Canadian businesses.

Collaborative Growth

Call to Action #3

Collaborate with provincial and municipal governments, as well as the development community to provide funding and policy tools to address the housing crisis.

The Challenges:

In 2024, 1 out of 3 Guelph residents reported that housing affordability was the most important issue facing the City, contributing to a decreasing quality of life. This is a significant shift from the findings of the 2022 Guelph satisfaction survey and reflects the growing scale of the housing crisis.

While Guelph is working to enable a range of housing that meets community needs, municipalities ultimately do not build homes. As of year-end 2023, there are almost 5,900 housing units across 150 land parcels in Guelph which are approved, but have yet to be built. City staff are actively reaching out to these landowners and developers to understand how to remove barriers and support construction. However, there are often barriers to building that are outside of the homebuilder’s direct control, including supply chain issues, housing market instability, high interest rates, and an inability to secure skilled tradespeople to do the work.

Opportunities for Federal Support and Collaboration:

Increasing housing supply will require collaboration between the homebuilding community and all levels of government. There are opportunities for direct investments into municipalities to accelerate housing approvals and construction:
- Programs, such as the Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI), that directly support municipalities in building housing have proven valuable in the past. With funding provided through the RHI, the City of Guelph worked with Wellington County to deliver 28 new transitional housing units at 65 Delhi Street. As Guelph explores its role in building affordable housing, funding programs would allow the City to capitalize on any opportunities to deliver much needed units to the community.
- Investments in transit also have great potential in expanding housing supply, as many solutions such as intensification and infill development rely on a robust transit system to be feasible for residents. By investing in transit and other non-automotive modes of connectivity, the federal government can support highly-connected municipalities, and enable a wider diversity of housing units to accommodate the community’s needs.
Beyond supports for municipalities, there is a need to support organizations leading the way on affordable housing. Models such as co-operatives, tiny and modular homes, and Community Land Trusts have the potential to provide permanent affordable and equitable housing, however, up-front costs may present major barriers to construction. As the City explores these models through its Housing Affordability Strategy, federal support to homebuilders and community groups will be important to integrate these solutions into the housing mix.

Call to Action #4:

Maintain and streamline federal funding programs for transportation, infrastructure and environmental initiatives.

The Challenges:

Federal funding programs have proven highly valuable in advancing innovative local initiatives and supporting affordability measures for communities. As the level of government closest to communities, municipalities can transform federal funds into tangible projects and infrastructure which improve quality of life for residents, and advance federal priorities. As Guelph and other municipalities increasingly divert funds to urgent issues such social services, and address high priority infrastructure renewal and growth needs, predictable funding provides much needed relief.

Unfortunately, many funding programs are time limited, application-based, and are often associated with complicated requirements and restrictive timelines. Historically, this has often resulted in challenges with matching funding opportunities to the highest priority projects.

Opportunities for Federal Support and Collaboration:

In designing new funding programs, the incoming federal government has an opportunity to greatly increase efficiency and improve value for money by:
- Shifting towards allocation-based programs which award funding based on need and population, rather than requiring complex applications.
- Streamlining and aligning funding requirements between federal programs, to simplify the application and reporting process and allow municipalities to focus their resources on project delivery.
In the longer term, there is a need for a new, sustainable, and predictable ways to fund municipalities. As municipalities shift away from Development Charges as a method of raising revenue, and address affordability concerns associated with property taxes, there are consistent shortfalls in funding required to address urgent municipal priorities. To support affordability for members of our community, the City of Guelph echoes the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ call for a renewed Municipal Growth Framework. With all levels of government at the table, there is an opportunity to develop a new, diverse, predictable, and equitable way to fund local governments that addresses affordability concerns and improves the quality of life for Guelph and other growing communities.

In Focus: Federal Funding in Guelph.

Over the past several years, the City of Guelph has greatly benefitted from federal funding allocations to advance transit, public infrastructure, and environmental projects:

Through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program, the City is delivering new electric buses, public transit infrastructure, and dedicated cycling facilities among other projects to support zero-carbon transportation options across Guelph.
With support from the Green Municipal Fund, the City is delivering its own Greener Homes Program which offers zero-interest loans and grants for homeowners undertaking energy efficiency and emission-reduction upgrades.
Through the Green and Inclusive Community Buildings Program, the City has modernized the HVAC system at the West End Community Centre, and is delivering the new, Net-Zero Certified Baker Street Library, which will be a cornerstone of the Baker Street redevelopment project.
With funding from the Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program, the City of Guelph has installed 28 public EV chargers across the city.

As Guelph and other municipalities increasingly divert funding to urgent priorities, these valuable projects would not have been feasible without federal support. In the coming years, the City calls on the federal government to continue these programs to support quality of life improvement projects in Guelph and across the country.

For more information

Kimberly Krawczyk
Manager, Policy and Intergovernmental Relations
Strategic Initiatives and Intergovernmental Services
City of Guelph
519-822-1260 extension 3464
[email protected]