In response to the federal government’s call for pre-budget submissions, CIP has submitted our recommendations to the Standing Committee on Finance ahead of the Fall Economic Statement and Budget 2025.
Now more than ever, planning matters. Planning influences where we live, how we move, how we work, how our economies grow, and the health and well-being of our cities, communities, and regions. Planners are at the forefront of the pressing challenges facing Canada, and they are the forward-thinkers who provide the ideas and solutions needed for communities to thrive.
While some may suggest there are tensions among the following recommendations—for example, between streamlining processes to accelerate timelines and setting more stringent standards for climate resilience and healthy communities—these are largely false dichotomies. Planners are uniquely equipped to design better processes and develop new tools that address bottlenecks and reduce duplication in the short term, while also establishing high standards to future-proof our communities. It is the planner’s role to ensure that a broad range of objectives—affordability, livability, resiliency, and efficiency—are achieved together.
Recommendations
- Prioritize the use of federal funds and lands to develop the most difficult housing to build—non-market and supportive segments of our housing system.
- Scale up pre-fabricated and modular building technologies to accelerate the construction process and contribute significantly to the economy.
- Prioritize climate-adaptive models, particularly in federal housing and nation-building initiatives, to ensure resilient homes and sustainable communities that protect Canadians and maximize long-term returns on federal investments.
- Create an AI-driven national inventory of planning bylaws and permitting processes for municipalities to reduce duplication of effort, increase standardization, and accelerate approvals for innovative products and processes that deliver housing faster and better across the country.
- Commit to a “New Deal” for municipalities to expand revenue opportunities and better align municipal revenue sources with their responsibilities for delivering housing and supporting infrastructure for healthy communities.
- Engage planners at all stages of program design, project assessment, and implementation for federal housing and nation-building initiatives.
- Provide funding to support planning in rural, northern, remote, and Indigenous communities that are least equipped—and often most impacted—by rapid housing development and major federal infrastructure projects.
Learn more about each recommendation in the full copy of our pre-budget submission below.