Thank you so very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the committee for inviting the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to join you today.
I want to take a moment to thank the other mayors who were able to join us today and all of the witnesses who are bringing this information to your attention.
On behalf of our membership, let me say how much we appreciate the steps that have been taken to date by the federal government to continue to hold these meetings. We appreciate the work being done quickly by the federal government to support Canadians in the midst of this pandemic.
This moment requires urgency.
Let me start by being as clear as possible. On behalf of more than 2,000 member municipalities of all sizes from coast to coast to coast, we stand united with one voice. Canadian municipalities are facing a financial crisis that puts Canadians at further risk. This crisis affects communities large and small, urban and rural, in unique ways. Unanticipated costs arise as municipalities across the country support front-line health action and deliver the central response services. At the same time, revenues are plummeting. This is a crisis of non-recoverable losses. Millions have been lost from deferred property taxes, utility charges and user fees, as our previous speaker said, such as transit. To reiterate the loss from transit, cities and communities are losing $400 million each month from lost transit ridership alone.
We estimate that 25,000 jobs have been lost at the municipal level with another 7,000 temporary roles gone unfilled. Much like Burnaby, the numbers are about the same in Halifax at approximately 1,500. These are essential services, not luxuries, that municipal leaders need to maintain now more than ever: police, fire, ambulances when you need them, clear tap water and garbage collection.
With few fiscal tools available and no legal ability to run deficits, local leaders are facing challenges that we've never seen before. I've been a witness at this committee before, and we've said that major economic drivers for Canada are what cities and communities are. These emerging crises represent a destabilizing force of our national economy and the daily lives of all Canadians.
In the absence of significant action from either provincial or federal governments to address severe revenue shortfalls resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, FCM is calling on all orders of government to work together in partnership. That is why today we are here and why yesterday FCM made an urgent appeal nationwide to the national leadership on behalf of cities and communities across the country. We are calling for emergency operating funding for municipalities, at least $10 billion in targeted emergency operating funding to all local governments as direct allocations. We propose a hybrid formula based on the gas tax fund with a ridership-based allocation for cities that operate transit systems, much like what was mentioned moments ago.
Next, deliver additional emergency operating funding to individual local governments facing very unique financial pressures related to COVID-19. We ask that there be a commitment to revisit the need for additional operating funding in about four months. We ask that local governments have the ability to transfer unused allocations to the federal gas tax program for capital expenditures to help Canada's economy recover when the time comes.
Make no mistake: Municipal leaders are working flat out to help Canadians through this. We realize that there is a provincial role, one we agree they should not abdicate. However, we can't let the impact of that principle default municipalities into deep austerity. This is simply too urgent. It is simply too serious and requires an immediate federal intervention.
Our federal-municipal partnership, which we're very proud of, has delivered remarkable results, as we know. Deepening that partnership now will protect Canadians through this pandemic. We are ready to work with all of you to ensure Canadians emerge from this crisis as safely as possible.
Thank you again so much for having us all here today. I will be happy to take your questions.