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GMF is keeping pace
Canadian municipalities build, own and maintain most of the infrastructure that supports our economy and quality of life, yet they do not have the resources to maintain it.
On November 20, 2007, FCM released a report from a research team led by Dr. Saeed Mirza of McGill University's Department of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics. The report estimates Canada's municipal infrastructure deficit is about $123 billion.
FCM is calling on the federal government and all parties in the House of Commons to acknowledge the scope of the problem and the need for a real national plan to fix it once and for all.
It's not as though municipal governments aren't doing everything they can. More and more municipalities are looking to sustainable solutions to meet their infrastructure needs. They recognize that initiatives such as reducing emissions and energy consumption, diverting waste and improving water quality can result in significant financial, social and environmental benefits for their communities.
FCM’s Green Municipal Fund has played an important role in supporting that leadership, but we know that this endowment, with a maximum of $90 million available for loans and grants each year, can not make a dent in that $123 billion infrastructure deficit. At least, not through financing alone: that’s why over the past two years FCM has been reorienting GMF.
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When GMF was created in 2000 by an endowment from the Government of Canada, there were much fewer communities actively incorporating sustainability into their planning and infrastructure. Now, thanks to the leadership of those early adopters, the benefits have been demonstrated; more and more municipal governments are following their example. A lot has changed in seven years: the field has become more crowded and more competitive, communities have a much better understanding of sustainability and how it can assist in the development of solutions that result in improved quality of life for the citizens in their communities. A progression of policy, programs and services has occurred and the capacity to act has grown..
Many of the leading-edge projects GMF funded in its earliest years that lead the way in pioneering sustainability are now being applied by many municipal governments. The successes of Canadian municipal governments, their understanding and capacity to act sustainably and the demands from our own communities have resulted in a raising of the bar. As a result of this transformation GMF has now revised its approach to keep pace and remain relevant as a source of funding for leading communities to continue raising the bar.. |
Annual Funding Limits
FCM’s GMF endowment
agreement with the
Government of Canada
sets caps for the funding
commitments that can
be made each year:
• $8-$12 million in grants
for plans and studies
• $50-$70 million in loans
and $7-$10 million in
grants for capital
projects
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FCM believes that the best way to serve a maximum number of municipal governments with our limited funds is to target funding to the leading examples and create opportunities for all communities to learn from them.
This approach ultimately increases FCM’s ability to use GMF as a tool to invest in new knowledge and to share that knowledge with an even greater number of communities.
In 2005-2006 FCM created a dedicated Knowledge Management Unit charged with the task of creating ways to capture and share the lessons and knowledge built through GMF-funded initiatives. That was the first element of a new model for GMF.
In 2006 we changed the way we accept and evaluate applications for loans and grants to support capital projects. The new Request for Proposals process helps GMF target funding to the strongest projects. That was the second element in the new model.
The way FCM manages the Fund is evolving to respond to the work municipalities are doing. We’re now ready to complete the new GMF model by implementing the third element: changing the way we accept grants for sustainable community plans, feasibility studies and field tests. |
Small Communities can
come out on top
Rural communities, which
collectively represent 20%
of the population, receive
about 30% of GMF offers.
We’ve discovered over
the past two years that the
top-rated proposals can
often come from very
small communities.
In our 2006 Water RFP,
four of the top five
proposals came from
small communities with
less than 10,000 people.
The second highest rated
proposal came from a
rural village of less than
300.
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For the first time we’ve set prerequisites and minimum criteria for applications to fund sustainable community plans,, feasibility studies and field tests. These new criteria will help us target grants to the leading examples of plans and studies; examples that other communities can follow.
The FCM Centre for Sustainable Community Development will continue using these leading examples to inform and inspire municipal governments to replicate them elsewhere and support them to establish and surpass their own sustainable development goals. We’ll also continue evolving so we can keep pace with Canadian municipal governments. It’s the best way for GMF to remain a valuable asset to FCM and the communities we serve.
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