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.
The beginning of August marks the start of National Downtown Month, a rare opportunity to celebrate the downtowns and main streets that bring life to our communities across Canada.
This year’s theme, Embrace Downtowns, is a call to reconnect with the businesses, public spaces, restaurants and cultural destinations that shape the identity and spirit of Canadian towns and cities.
This Downtown Month, IDA Canada is highlighting to policymakers, residents and visitors that downtowns and main streets are more than just destinations, they are at the heart of community life across the country. Whether through events, local businesses, residencies or cultural experiences, downtowns and main streets create the opportunities Canadians need to participate in, connect with and contribute to our country’s shared sense of identity and community. With Downtown Month, IDA Canada wants to emphasize that downtowns and main streets are more than just places to work and live, they are foundational to Canada’s cultural and economic prosperity.
How Can I Participate?
This August, IDA Canada invites Canadians from coast to coast to reconnect with the downtowns and main streets closest to home and celebrate the people and places that bring communities together to proudly #EmbraceDowntowns.
Downtown Month 2026 Member Toolkit
This year, IDA Canada’s Downtown Month Member Toolkit, which provides customizable templates, social media resources and key messages, can help you amplify this important message within your own communities.
Download the 2026 Member Toolkit [EN | FR]
Downtown Month 2026 Press Release
Help IDA Canada celebrate the role downtowns and main streets play in strengthening city centres, building stronger communities and shaping the Canada we know and love. Review the press release regarding the launch of Downtown Month 2026.
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 here to view the most current advocacy updates prepared by our public affairs team at IMPACT Canada.
As IDA Canada members, you are at the forefront of strengthening and shaping communities. Contacting your local MP is a great way to build support and educate our leaders on the importance of business improvement associations (BIAs). There are several easy ways in which IDA Canada members can engage their local MPs. To find contact information for your local MP, please click here and enter your postal code.
Each year, IDA Canada hosts Parliament Hill Day in Ottawa – a national advocacy event that brings members together to meet with federal officials and policymakers. The event provides a unified platform for Business Improvement Associations (BIAs) and downtown leaders to share local successes, highlight national challenges and advocate for policies that strengthen Canada’s downtowns, main streets and urban centres. Through these discussions, IDA Canada amplifies the collective voice of its members and advances a federal agenda that recognizes downtowns as vital to the nation’s economic and social well-being.
Download the 2025 Parliament Hill Advocacy Day issue briefs [EN | FR] and project release [EN].
Download the 2024 Parliament Hill Advocacy Day issue briefs and media release [EN | FR].
Pre-Budget Submission
Click here to read IDA Canada’s House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance’s Pre-Budget Consultations in Advance of Budget 2026.
One National Voice
In One National Voice: Recovery with Resilience [EN | FR], 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. 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.
2025 Federal Election
Canada faced a pivotal Federal election in 2025, and IDA Canada members across the country engaged with their local political candidates and future Parliamentarian to ensure that they were aware of the realties in local neighbourhoods within their constituencies. The opportunities, challenges and Federal policy levers that may help address issues are important topics to raise. This online grassroots toolkit acted as a resource for IDA Canada members for the months leading into the election and thereafter. Download the complete toolkit as a PDF [EN | FR] here.
Quantifying the Value
Quantifying the Value of Canadian Downtowns: A Research Toolkit (September 2016) 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. Purchase the report in the IDA webstore.
