Issues

As municipalities, we're like most other organizations. We face a range of issues that make it difficult for us to do what we do - some we can conquer on our own and some we can't. By uniting as the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), we harness the strength of close to 2,000 communities to overcome our issues together.

Issues directly affect the services we provide to our citizens. This means that our issues are your issues. They can be unsafe streets, contaminated drinking water, crumbling roads or a lack of affordable housing. They affect everyone in your community and impact your quality of life.

Resolving Issues Together

FCM is an open and democratic organization. All member municipalities have opportunities to propose matters for consideration by the general membership. Through FCM's Annual Conference, Board meetings, committees, forums and programs, we meet regularly to discuss our concerns and share a first-hand perspective on what's happening in our communities. We listen to one another and identify priority areas that FCM staff research and analyze.

These issues are then discussed and voted upon in our standing committees and then by FCM's 75-member Board of Directors, a national body with representatives from all provinces and territories.

FCM staff develop policy statements for each priority area. The policy statements, which include our formal position and a series of recommended actions, provide the direction for our advocacy activities as we strive to influence public policy and programs at the federal level.