Report highlights importance of immigration to municipal viability
A ‘What We Learned’ report on the Future of Municipal Government (FOMG) paper, Population Growth and Population Aging in Alberta Municipalities, highlights the importance of immigration to make up for low fertility rates in maintaining municipal populations.
The report provides future direction that Alberta Municipalities can take to assist our members in fostering thriving communities including:
- Seek collaboration with the Government of Alberta, Statistics Canada, and demographers to ensure timely and accurate information is available on municipal populations in an accessible format that municipalities can use to inform local planning.
- Strengthen Alberta Municipalities’ ‘Welcoming and Inclusive Communities’ initiative by working with Rural Municipalities of Alberta, the Government of Alberta, and other organizations to provide education and resources to help advance municipal leadership and collaboration related to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI).
- Advance advocacy and initiatives related to access to healthcare, broadband and other services essential to attracting and retaining population including exploration of how intermunicipal collaboration can enhance the capacity to provide those services.
The next FOMG paper on the impacts of extreme weather on municipalities will be released later this month. Stay tuned for an announcement about its release and a forthcoming webinar with its author. The online presentation is tentatively scheduled for December 9.
