.png;w=960)
Cambridge Mayor Jan Liggett held her annual State of the City address yesterday at the new Cambridge Soccer Complex and spoke about the ups and downs of the past year.
Liggett spoke to the crowd of around 100 donors, local politicians and residents, highlighting the city's accomplishments despite an ever-changing political landscape.
"There have been a lot of great things that have happened over the past year, but there's still more to be done," Liggett told the packed crowd.
She talked about everything from housing to infrastructure, to the continuing opioid crisis and how the city could move forward.
Liggett noted that the city missed out on valuable funding from the province due to "discrepancies" in the provincial counting of housing starts.
"Based on CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation) stats the city met 75 per cent of the housing target in 2023; when in actuality, we reached the 86 per cent target which gave us the ability to earn those dollars, which they did not give us," Liggett said.
The province put together a housing strategy that saw municipalities all over the province pledge to meet a goal for housing starts by 2031. Cambridge's pledge was for 19,000 homes by that date.
If the city met at least 80 per cent of its goal for 2023, it could have received $4.8 million from the provincial government.
With millions on the table, Liggett said the City of Cambridge and other municipalities petitioned the province to review their stats and make Cambridge whole.
"We will be getting that money," she said.
She also noted that developers need to start putting shovels in the ground to help the city meet its housing targets to receive funding from the province.
"We can give out permits all day long, but we can't make them build," she said.
Another area she focused on was the devastating opioid crisis that has been ravaging the city and other municipalities around the province.
"I don't think it's an overstatement that the current mental health and addiction crisis is the greatest calamity of our time. It's affecting almost every single person here tonight," she said.
"This crisis has reached into the very fabric of our lives and it has turned our streets into the theatre for mental crisis."
The mayor said open use of drugs in the downtown cores has affected economic development on a micro and macro scale and negatively impacted the health and wellness of community members.
When asked at last year's State of the City address, Liggett said the legacy she wanted to leave behind as mayor was taking steps to address the mental health and addiction crisis in the community.
To help meet that objective, she commissioned a poll to better understand what the community wants to see in the response to the opioid crisis.
While this poll was criticized by members of her council, local drug policy experts and harm reduction service providers, she maintains it was "well worth the money."
The results of the poll found that four out of five respondents want to see a dedicated stream of funding to address the issues of mental health and addiction services and 68 per cent wanted to see laws changed to allow involuntary treatment.
The mayor has also called on the government to add at least $1 billion a year to a dedicated stream to help services and new models of support like the Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs.
Cambridge is also home to some of the largest corporations and industry leaders in the world such as Toyota and BWXT, and soon OVHCloud will be investing $145 million into building its second Canadian location in the city.
OVHCloud is a global leader in cloud sharing and data storage that has decided to set up shop here in Cambridge after city officials took an economic trip to Europe last fall, she said.
"These investments not only underscore the entrepreneurial spirit and innovation thriving within Cambridge, but also signify the city's emergence as a global hub for cutting edge technology and sustainable business practices."
As Cambridge continues to grow its presence on a global scale, the mayor will also be hosting the consulate-general of Japan and his wife next year as well as a mayor from Germany next month.
The city also continues to build infrastructure such as the soccer complex, new recreation centre that should start construction in the coming weeks and plans are coming together at the region to add the LRT and possible GO Transit lines to Cambridge, she said.
These plans to build on local facilities and transit are a key item in the upcoming economic plan for Cambridge as the population continues to grow, Liggett said.
"Cambridge has also continued to thrive economically over the last year. Our city has seen a surge in new businesses with over 100 new enterprises opening their doors," said Liggett.
"This growth has not only created jobs, but it has also diversified our local economy; diversification is very important to the longevity of any community."
As the city and population continue to evolve, Liggett noted that hosting multicultural and diverse events allows new residents to fully experience what the Cambridge lifestyle means.
"By finding these things that unite us and make us part of this community and of the Cambridge experience, we can increase understanding of those around us," she said.
"City staff know that we can be a community capable of coming together to accomplish big and important things. We are all part of that Cambridge experience and I welcome each and every one of you."
