The City of Guelph’s Mayor, Cam Guthrie, and the City of Barrie’s Mayor, Jeff Lehman, were elected as Chair and Vice-Chair respectively of the Large Urban Mayors’ Caucus of Ontario (LUMCO) in February 2019.
The LUMCO represents 67% of Ontario’s population. Its membership includes mayors of 27 communities with a population of 100,000 or more. LUMCO advocates for issues and policies important to Ontario’s largest cities within the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) and to other levels of government.
“I am thrilled to be leading LUMCO for the next two years, and I look forward to working with my fellow mayors to raise the profile of issues that matter to Ontario’s biggest cities,” said Mayor Guthrie.
“I’m honoured to serve my colleagues as Vice-Chair and support the leadership of Mayor Guthrie as Chair,” said Mayor Lehman. “There are pressing issues affecting Ontario’s largest cities, and mayors will be working together through LUMCO to ensure the provincial and federal governments hear the need for action.”
At its first meeting of the term, LUMCO discussed emergency services, joint and several liability, infrastructure funding, development charges, and retail cannabis. The group heard from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) about their services and advocacy priorities.
It also passed a resolution calling on Ontario’s Minister of Infrastructure to immediately release phase 2 infrastructure funding to Ontario municipalities, and a resolution asking the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to work with LUMCO as the Province completes its review of joint and several liability.
