Mayor Meed Ward addresses the Burlington Chamber of Commerce on the State of the City.

By Gazette Staff

January 26^th, 2026

BURLINGTON, ON

State of the City speeches can drone on.  The 2025 statement had a very different tone; it was as much pleading as there were statements.  Worth reading.

Edited for length and clarity

Last Friday, before the snow got serious, Mayor Marianne Meed Ward addressed 300 members of the Chamber of Commerce.

Mayor Marianne Meed Ward chairing a City Council meeting.

Burlington has a tradition of the Mayor giving a State of the City address at the beginning of each year.  This is a transcript of what the Mayor had to say.

At the end of the formal address Mayor Meed Ward sat with Tim Caddigan, Director of Community Engagement with Cogeco for a short Q&A session.  We report on that in a separate article.

In October a municipal election takes place; the State of the City address was the last time the Mayor would be able to speak to the business community in a formal setting.

Well, good morning, everyone. Are you doing good?  Enjoying  your breakfast?  If you ever needed proof of Burlington’s strength, resilience and creativity, just look around.   Every single business leader, employer, entrepreneur, nonprofit, innovator and educator in this room; you are the people creating jobs, delivering services, supporting families and investing in our city every single day.  The State of our city is strong, not in spite of the challenges we face, but because of how we respond to those challenges. Together. Today, I want to speak truthfully and optimistically about those challenges and how Burlington is meeting them head-on through stable, innovative and collaborative leadership.

We don’t always agree, and we shouldn’t, but behind every single debate is a shared commitment and a responsibility for Burlington’s well being.

Burlington has led the way with the elect respect campaign.

We can disagree, we can debate, and we can do it in a way that respects personal dignity and safety. So thank you for being part of that movement.

Chamber of Commerce members filled 300 seats to hear the Mayor

I’d like to speak directly and honestly about those challenges and they are significant: 2025 was a year of chaos. Our closest trading partner ignored trade agreements and levied tariffs that hit steel manufacturing, auto and more. This has disrupted supply chains, increased the cost of goods, and created risk and uncertainty, two words that kill business and that have affected everything from the cost of bread to the cost of housing.  2026 promises more of the same,

Our Prime Minister, Mark Carney, speaking in Davoz a couple of days ago said “we are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition, but there is room for optimism. We are not powerless.

Burlington has what businesses, visitors and residents want, talent, infrastructure, partnerships and stability.  Burlington’s strength is our stability, and stability is what businesses rely on during uncertain times, and what the Prime Minister said about Canada is true here at the local level, too.

Mayor speaks to Chamber

We have the capacity to name reality, build our strength at home and act together. So let’s talk about what we’re doing together. When we heard about the tariffs, we acted immediately for our businesses in the face of these threats.  I formed a tariff task force with my colleagues, Councillor Sharman and Councillor Galbraith and key industry partners, some of you in the room today, including the chamber, thank you for being a part of that to respond directly to the economic pressures that you’re facing.  We delivered a six month interest free property tax deferral for industrial properties impacted by us tariffs. And some of you in this room have taken us up on that we advocated for Buy Ontario Act to allow us to prefer Canadian and local businesses which trade agreements didn’t allow us to do in our procurement. We advocated for that, and Ontario delivered. I joined a delegation with many others in Washington to meet US senators and congressional members, sending a unified message that tariffs hurt both countries.

We also work to keep their costs down locally. We were the first municipality in Ontario to reduce development charges with a potential two-year freeze that we’ll be discussing later this year.  The provincial and federal governments have promised they would do. We approved surety bonds to keep cash flow free. It up for housing amid rising costs, and we partner with builder agencies and residents on our MADE IN BURLINGTON Pipeline to Permit Committee, which I co-chair with Councillor Stolte, and this collaboration leads to better decision making. And we’re also reviewing our Burlington Economic Development and Tourism services. And thank you all the board members for being here to ensure that our outcomes match changing business landscape.

We’re also investing in what matters to you as businesses. Our 2026 budget focuses on inflation, infrastructure and core services that our community relies on resulting in a property tax increase to you of 4.49%, which is the second lowest in the region. We’ve made investments in fire emergency response.

We’re tackling Burlington’s $454 million infrastructure gap head-on with a dedicated infrastructure levy to close the gaps between needed repairs and the funding available, because we know if our roads are crumbling or water banks spill into the streets.  Delaying repairs creates emergencies, and emergencies disrupt business. So we’re planning ahead, investing early and reducing risk. I want to recognize Councillor Paul Sharman, the Deputy Mayor for strategy and budgets, for being side by side through this budget journey with me for the entire term.

Mayor: We’re tackling traffic congestion.

We’re tackling traffic congestion and safety, because traffic affects every single business, from employees getting to work to goods getting to customers. We’re working with regional and provincial partners to improve communication and coordination during planned closures of the Skyway Bridge, and we’ve proposed a pilot project to better manage traffic that spills onto our streets when there are when there’s trouble on the QE W.  We’re advocating to our provincial partners, including recently at the rural Ontario Municipal Association Annual Conference for funding for traffic safety measures. Now that speed cameras are gone, and that’s shifted the cost back to taxpayers, not speeders, where they belong.  I’m optimistic we’ll get speed cameras one of these days, we’ll just have to wait a little longer. We also know that giving people alternatives to the car helps congestion, so we’re exploring options to improve public transit, including on-demand service. To advance this work, I am announcing today that I will be convening a traffic and safety round table here in the city. This will bring together business community leaders to discuss our current road safety challenges, review data driven solutions and recommend meaningful action to solve traffic congestion and improve safety.

I’ve learned, that when we bring the experts and our community members and businesses together with council and staff, we make better decisions. We’re also taking action on public safety. Safe Communities are business-friendly communities. Halton Region has been ranked the safest region in the country 17 years in a row, with the lowest violent crime severity index and the lowest non violent crime rates. That safety has come at a cost. Police budgets increased in double digits last year and over 8% this year, those investments are enabling us to put new boots on the ground to serve you.

Mayor Meed Ward chairing the Ontario Big City Mayor’s caucus.

The Ontario Big City Mayor’s caucus, (OBCMC) which I chair, has advocated for funding to Regional Police services similar to OPP funded communities across Ontario. OBCMC also advocated for bail reform to keep violent repeat offenders behind bars.

On April 21, mark, the date, I will be hosting my Spring Speaker Series focused on community safety, connection and well-being.

We’re also attracting post-secondary and entrepreneurs who train and employ the next generation of workers.

2025 saw the opening of Robert Bateman Community Center, Burlington’s largest facility; it brought under one roof Brock University, Burlington Public Library, Tech Place and the Halton District School Board. This hub connects education to workforce development, innovation to entrepreneurship and community to lifelong learning.

Mohawk College is expanding with a future health care campus, (understood to be part of the Alinea 1200 King Road development) partnering with local health teams, hospitals and the region of Halton.  It will be much more than an academic space. It will strengthen our health care system, support workforce development in high demand professions, and reinforce Burlington’s role as a city that plans ahead. We’re very excited around this expansion, so watch for more details in coming months.

1200 King Road through to the Aldershot GO station.

1200 King Road, stretches from Aldershot GO station east to King Road.  This area is going to be the model for how we build and plan complete communities, not just housing around and adjacent to our Go stations. It’s also a model of a partnership developers working with our staff, community and Council, to plan the vision before an application ever comes forward or a shovel gets put in the ground.

We opened the Skyway community center in the east end of the city. The NHL-sized rink, multi use community rooms that are big enough for pickable, and the indoor walking track and many meeting spaces.

There is now a ceremonial fire circle at Sweet Grass Park; we provided dedicated space for indigenous-led programming and cultural learning at Mountainside Recreation Center. All of this led by members of the Mayor’s Indigenous Advisory Circle. We’ve  planned upgrades to parks and trails across Burlington in 2026

We are also enabling housing so people can live and work here. We’re encouraging gentle and affordable density in neighborhoods through our (ARU) Additional Residential Unit Program, also known as the basement apartment plan. You don’t have to put it in the basement. Can be out in the shed, where we sometimes think about housing our adult children when they’re ready to leave the house. They haven’t taken us up on that yet, up to $95,000 per unit as a grant for people that are providing affordable rental use and rental units for a period of time. We were able to provide that grant through our partnership with the federal government and the housing accelerator fund. When I started as a Councillor in 2010, we had maybe one or two applications for ARU use per year. This year, we have 58 so it’s working.

We’re also working on a digital permit solution that will allow you to submit your plans and get an instant review of how they line up with their zoning by law and the building code. This allows you to get answers in minutes, not weeks. Burlington is now partnering with the province of Ontario to roll this out across Ontario. It’s an example of innovation right here in Burlington. And all of our efforts on housing. Burlington earned a B rating from RESCON for the missing middle initiative. We were only one of four municipalities in Ontario to get C or better. 22 out of 34 got an F. It is not easy to provide housing, and we don’t do it alone at the city. We have a role to play, but we do it with you to make sure that people have an affordable place to live here. So we are attracting talent, universities, entrepreneurs, investors. We’re building a city that offers opportunity, innovation and quality of life. We don’t do any of this without each of you in this room. Burlington, success and prosperity has always depended on partnership.

It was a time to network, to get caught up and to meet new people. The Chamber added 140 new members in 2025.

When I look back on 2025 I believe partnership coupled with stable leadership will be the defining thread that carried us through this chaotic period, partnership across government, with business and nonprofits, with educators, innovators and communities. That’s what keeps Burlington going. As Mayor, I represent Burlington at the Ontario Big City Mayor’s caucus, as you know as Chair, I’m part of the auto mayor’s caucus, while we don’t have an auto making factory here in Burlington, we have many businesses that are auto-adjacent, providing supplies to the auto sector. I sit on the Great Lakes St Lawrence Cities Initiative; Burlington is a member, and through that, we are protecting the economy around our Great Lakes and partnering with our friends in the United States who agree with us that tariffs are not the way to do business.

I sit on the Association of Municipalities of Ontario board, where we have advocated collectively for what we need in the sector, on your behalf. And as noted, I attended the Rural Ontario Municipal Association. Burlington is half rural, and we can’t forget the incredible economic driver that our farms and our businesses in the rural area provide. They always tease me when I come as mayor of the big cities, but they welcome me with open arms, as the rural folk often do.

What that tells you is I am committed to being at every single table in every single room in every conversation to bring your needs and your voice to the table to get results for Burlington.

And I’ll come to your table too. So I encourage you to connect with me at drop-ins. We’ve planned Town Halls for spring, in person, over the phone. We do it all. I’m happy to come and visit your business or your organization. Please stay in touch with me.  Sign up for the newsletter. All of the council has a newsletter. And if you’d like me to bring this presentation, modified and customized to your audience and your needs. We do that too. Please email me at mayor@burlington.ca

I’m not quite done yet.

Mayor Meed Ward: We plan ahead, we invest wisely and we act collaboratively.

To conclude, Burlington thrives because we plan ahead, we invest wisely and we act collaboratively. We will debate with respect, commit with care and work together as team Burlington, we will continue to succeed through stable leadership, innovation and partnerships through these incredibly chaotic times, that stability is what we can lean on during uncertain times. And I want to leave you with a story. I have so many that I can tell, but I want to leave you with this one, just from yesterday.

I had the opportunity to drop by the Harvest Table, it is run that’s a family-run business here in Burlington. The family have been running this for decades, and they partnered with Burlington East Community Church this Christmas to serve a free Christmas dinner to nearly 200 people in our community. And I tell you that that’s  us yesterday, that the family and some of the volunteers that came out to to meet with me and just talk about what they were doing.  That is the story of Burlington business, of Burlington nonprofits and of Burlington residents. And when you see and hear that story, I hope you feel the way I do, that we are strong. We stand together and because of that, we will get through the difficult times ahead.

So thank you for your leadership, your ideas, your investment in Burlington. Together, we will continue to make this city strong, resilient, ready for whatever the future has in store. Thanks everyone.