Vancouver councillor named head of Federation of Canadian Municipalities

Vancouver city councillor becomes president of Federation of Canadian Municipalities

Rebecca Bligh. (ABC Vancouver)

As of this week, Rebecca Bligh is now the new president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM).

Representing the City of Vancouver, the ABC Vancouver party city councillor has been a member of the board of directors of the FCM since 2018, when she was first elected into Vancouver City Council.

Bligh replaces Geoff Stewart, the City of Colchester’s deputy mayor, who has held the position since the start of Summer 2024.

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Each term as president typically lasts for about a year, with the president and board of directors comprised of elected mayors and city councillors from across Canada.

ABC Vancouver city councillor Lisa Dominato is also a member of FCM’s board of directors.

Bligh’s position is significant. The last time a Vancouver municipal politician held the role of the president of the FCM was in 2015 when Vision Vancouver city councillor Raymond Louie led the national organization. Before Louie, Vancouver municipal politicians last held the role in 1977, 1966, 1950/1951, and 1945.

FCM advocates for the interests of Canadian municipal governments to federal and provincial authorities. Its members represent over 2,100 local governments across the country. It is the national equivalent of the Union of BC Municipalities.

In recent decades, the FCM has consistently criticized the “downloading” of a growing number of federal and provincial responsibilities onto municipal governments, which are increasingly constrained in their financial capacity to meet the growing demand for utilities, civic services, and infrastructure — especially with a rapidly growing population. Municipalities in Canada are limited to the property tax for their single largest tool for generating revenue.

Beyond advocacy, the FCM disperses the federal government’s Canada Community-Building Fund (formerly known as the federal Gas Tax Fund) — over $2 billion each year — to municipal governments across Canada. This fund goes towards upgrading infrastructure, including public transit.

This past summer, it was announced that British Columbia’s municipal governments will receive $3.5 billion from the fund over the next 10 years through 2034, including over $1.6 billion within the next five years, with more than $300 million in 2024/2025. Out of the $3.5 billion, about 50% or $1.7 billion will go toward TransLink to improve Metro Vancouver’s public transit infrastructure, with $825 million going to the public transit authority over the next five years.

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