Policy & Advocacy

IDA Canada

IDA Canada, a national coalition of the International Downtown Association, represents organizations across the country that manage Canada’s business districts, making them vital places in the nation’s identity and key centres of economic wealth. Canadian business neighbourhoods and city cores are varied in form, size and make-up and yet across the country, these business districts play an important role in communities locally, provincially and nationally. The goal of IDA Canada is to unite Canada and lay the foundation of the coalition’s Canadian advocacy and research efforts.

Advocacy Updates

IDA Canada is diligently working to bring the interests of our members to the forefront of the federal government’s attention. Our downtowns and commercial main streets are directly impacted by decisions made by elected officials of all levels of government and with a united voice, we can influence national policies in key areas that will help our members across Canada. Click below to view the current advocacy updates prepared by our public affairs team at IMPACT Canada.

2025 Federal Pre-Budget Submission 

2024 Advocacy Updates

2023 Advocacy Updates 

2022 Federal Priorities

One National Voice: Recovery with Resilience 

In One National Voice: Recovery with Resilience, IDA Canada identifies five issues that all downtowns and main streets across Canada face and present program proposals to assist in resolving challenges. The sharing of these documents and the mobilization of all to help address these issues helps to create a clearer, united voice about national issues affecting the downtowns and main streets of Canada’s cities and towns.

Recovery with Resilience (EN)

Pour un Rétablissement Résilient (FR)

One National Voice: Recovery with Resilience is an update to An Urban Agenda outlining five national issues identified as being of greatest importance to all BIAs and SDCs.

IDA Canada Discussion Board

Share best practices, exchange ideas, quickly ask and respond to questions, and connect with peers across Canada through a virtual online community. Canadian-specific resources can be found by visiting the IDA Canada Knowledge Centre library. Current IDA members can connect now on IDEA Connection, the global online network of place management professionals. To login, use your existing IDA credentials. View this short video for an overview of using the IDEA Connection discussion board and Knowledge Centre library.

If you have questions about IDA membership, please visit the Member Benefits webpage or contact Allison Shashok.

Research
We invite you to view research on Quantifying the Value of Canadian Downtowns and The Value of Investing in Canadian Downtowns and learn about the priorities and strategies of IDA Canada in the Downtown Declaration documents below.

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Quantifying the Value of Canadian Downtowns: A Research Toolkit: September 2016
This toolkit is a groundbreaking effort intended to provide a downtown data standard – a common set of data and processes that will help Canadian downtown BIAs/BIDs establish and sustain downtown evaluation and compare progress in downtowns.
Click here to purchase the toolkit

 

 
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The Value of Investing in Canadian Downtowns Ed. 2: October 2013
The Value of Investing in Canadian Downtowns is a ‘living’ project and the first of its kind examining 17 downtowns across Canada to assess changes in attitudes, perceptions, functionality and performance over time. This project is envisaged to act as a resource for city builders, compiling evidence-based research that illustrates the importance of investing in downtowns. It provides an extensive portrait of the contributions being made by downtown areas across Canada, highlighting innovative approaches to revitalization and efforts being applied across the nation.
Download the report

 
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Downtowns Canada: A Federal Agenda: October 2015
In advance of the 2015 federal election, IDA Canada mobilized 15 cities across Canada to administer an All Candidates Survey. Six cities also hosted Town Hall All Candidate Debates.
Download the report