TRURO, N.S.
A Colchester County councillor has been elected chair of the Atlantic Caucus of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM).
This is also the fourth consecutive year that District 10 councillor Tom Taggart was elected to the FCM board of directors.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that FCM is an important organization for our municipality and I am honoured to be representing Colchester County on the board and especially as the Atlantic Caucus Chair,” Taggart said. “During my previous three years I was a very vocal advocate for rural communities, emphasizing their value and the important role that they play in our country. I look forward to continuing this work.”
Members of the board were announced during the FCM’s recent annual conference in Halifax.
In addition to experiencing a record attendance of delegates, the conference also played host to all federal political leaders, setting a new high-water mark for municipal sector engagement in Canada, according to a release.
The conference was attended by more than 2,000 municipal leaders “who left Halifax with a better understanding of the country’s growing municipal-federal partnership and a challenge to think about the tools they’ll need to build tomorrow’s Canada.”
The federal leaders each stressed during their presentations to the conference of the important role that municipal issues play on the national agenda as well as the importance of local governance in building Canada’s future.
“We are delighted to have a member of our council involved in a national organization that is so important to not only our municipality, but the many municipalities across the Country,” Colchester Mayor Christine Blair said, in the release.
“FCM programs have certainly been of great benefit to our County.”
Since 2014 the Municipality of Colchester has received over $9 million in federal funding for local infrastructure projects through programs championed by the FCM.
Such initiatives include the gas tax, Clean Water and Wastewater Fund, the Build Canada Fund, and Municipal Asset Management Program.
The FCM serves the national voice for local governments, with nearly 2,000 members representing more than 90 per cent of Canadians. FCM’s next annual conference is set for June 2019 in Quebec City.
