Architects need to develop alternative approaches to advocacy

Canada's architects can achieve greater impact when we approach advocacy by organizing issue-based campaigns.

Sep 12, 2025

Prime Minister Mark Carney recently announced the Major Projects Office, which will oversee several projects like Alto, Canada's first high-speed railway, spanning approximately 1,000 km from Toronto to Québec City and reaching speeds of up to 300 km/hour to cut travel times in half and connect close to half of Canada's population. Major transit infrastructure represents just one advocacy portfolio Canadian architects should be on top of if we hope to lobby for our professional services through focused campaign-based efforts.

We've seen this movie before: legacy platforms trying to be everything to everyone, only slowly becoming nothing to everyone. Newspapers with sprawling mandates struggle to fund the armies of reporters needed to cover everything, while nimble, mission-driven outlets thrive by focusing on a clear mandate. Think The Tyee, The Local, The Narwhal, Spacing—small, sharp, effective. Their focus enables them to be faster, more credible, and easier to fund.

Department stores told a similar story. Once trusted for breadth, they couldn't keep up with shifting tastes or specialized competitors. As they quietly transitioned into real estate investments, their market value withered away, ultimately leading to bankruptcy. The lesson: the broader the promise, the fuzzier the delivery.

Architectural advocacy in Canada has repeated these mistakes. As well-intentioned as they may be, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) is structured like a department store, encompassing awards programs, conferences, a syllabus learning platform, continuing education programs, committees, and call-to-action statements. As laudable as these functions are, their mandate is spread too thin. All these activities sit beneath an umbrella for everything. But umbrellas don't win policy fights. They diffuse attention, exhaust resources, and leave members wondering what, exactly, changed.

Here's the crucial distinction we keep forgetting: provincial regulators exist to protect the public; the RAIC exists to advocate for architects. If architects still feel unprotected on procurement, fees, scope, climate mandates, or public-sector delivery, that's not a messaging problem—it's a structure problem. There are more successful models of architectural advocacy, such as the Winnipeg Architectural Foundation, the Toronto Society of Architects, Héritage Montréal, and Vancouver's Urbanarium, which are notable examples of knowledgeable organizations with a relatively consistent roster of volunteers.

The performance theatre of "advocacy"

Issuing statements, open letters, and calls to action creates the appearance of movement. It is not the same as shifting policy. Letter-writing without targets, timelines, and accountable owners is an activity disguised as impact—the "I'm going to write another letter to my Member of Parliament" problem is not enough.

Real change occurs through hidden persuaders: the quiet, well-timed conversations with the right officials who control a line item, a committee agenda, or a procurement rule. If you learn about an RFP on MERX, you're already late; if you react to a minister's press release, you're already too late. Effective advocacy maps the calendar of budgets and frameworks before the window opens—then navigates it effectively.

We also continue to make the "inside-voice" mistake—talking to architects about architecture. Talking to ourselves is problematic. At the very least, speak to real-estate developers, engineers, landscape architects and planners. Decision-makers need values framed in their vocabulary, including cost control, risk reduction, climate resilience, housing quality, and civic trust. Until architects anchor the obstacles we face on any given issue, we'll be shouting in a language the public doesn't speak. More simply, we'll be presenting our grievances that the public doesn't really care about. Why should anyone other than architects want us to increase our fees on RFPs?

Why campaigns work.

Umbrella institutions tend to prioritize breadth over outcomes. They accumulate committees, not coalitions; programs, not policy. The result is one megaphone feeding many silos: provinces, regulators, schools, councils, allied sectors—all acting in parallel with weak coordination. The well-intended energy diffuses.

Campaigns, by contrast, concentrate force. They define one winnable goal, assemble a cross-sector coalition (i.e., architects and engineers and developers and municipal leaders) to work through a straightforward process of change. For me, it's helpful to use the "Target, Lever, Message, Moment" process. It works really well. (It also quickly reveals the limits of your targeted message.) The process is self-explanatory, although there are some nuances to each step of the way. Only after this process can you effectively publish the artifact (a brief, suggestions for a bill text or a procurement checklist). Assign an owner or a spokesperson, and only then can you report on its progress. That's how you build power.

Build a backbone, not a bigger tent.

The fix isn't another umbrella organization. It's a tiny backbone team that sets a common agenda, runs shared measurements, and coordinates issue-related meetings. Think "collective impact," not "institutional validation." Do you want a third-party advocacy institution to own your success or influence? Perhaps it's the humble part of my personality, but I think you want to benefit from the changes, not boast about how you made them.

What does that look like in practice? Imagine three flagship campaigns that the public already understands in their own terms:

Procurement quality (QBS-first): Move selected municipalities and programs to qualifications-based selection and fair-fee principles—because lowest-bid design is slow, risky, and wasteful. Why? Prove the downfalls of not listening to you.
Retrofit-first public assets: Require whole-life carbon and resilience scoring in capital plans. This is already being increasingly done, but reinforce it. Find supporting rationales, such as heritage, cultural landscapes, or social dimensions.
Indigenous partnership & delivery: Standardize an Indigenous-led procurement pathway and track adoption. Many architects already do this, but they can further formalize it by establishing solid relationships with specific Indigenous groups.

Each campaign needs tangible artifacts (one-pagers, checklists, model RFP clauses), names a spokesperson, and publishes a timeline.

Measure what matters—or stop calling it advocacy.

If advocacy is public-facing education plus mobilization, then it demands receipts: who we met, which commitments we secured, which programs changed. No more opaque processes that leave us in the dark. If a tactic can't be measured against a target, it's not a tactic; it's theatre.

The payoff.

Umbrellas keep us dry while we stand still. Backbones help us move. If we want architectural advocacy that actually changes how Canada builds—on cost, climate, and civic life—we should stop managing a tent and start running targeted campaigns. We'll be more competitive, remunerated, and otherwise better off for it.

In the News…

Chodikoff & Ideas empowers architects, developers, and civic leaders with strategic foresight. I help clients position themselves as thought leaders who shape more resilient, equitable, and sustainable communities. Reach out to me if you have concerns about how to keep your business relevant in today’s market, and how to cultivate leadership within your organization to stay competitive and relevant in today’s economy and political reality.

Toronto ‘epicenter of weakness’ for housing as Ontario’s 1.5M goal slips further away (Global News) The Ford government is unwilling to say if it can still build 1.5 million new homes by 2031. The most recent data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation show that roughly halfway through 2025, Ontario is enjoying an even less productive year than it did in 2024, when it fell tens of thousands of units short of its targets. From January to July this year, Ontario has seen just 33,821 new houses start, a drop of 25 per cent from the numbers it recorded at the same time last year. The data shows Ontario’s figures are by far the worst in the country. Starts in Quebec are up 38 per cent year-on-year, while British Columbia is down four per cent. Atlantic Canada is up 16 per cent, and the Prairies have increased by 24 per cent.

9 condo projects cancelled this year in Toronto, and trend will likely continue (CBC) Toronto’s condo pipeline is wobbling: Urbanation counts nine cancellations so far in 2025, on pace with last year’s 11. CMHC flags a wider slump, as stalled projects and weak sales signal more cancellations ahead—leaving buyers like Phil Earnshaw in limbo.

B.C. to receive $326M this year from the Canada Community-Building Fund (Building) Ottawa will send B.C. over $326M this fiscal year for housing-enabling and community infrastructure, part of a $26.7B national program (2024–2034). Example: Surrey upgrades at Tamanawis Park. B.C. is slated for $1.6B over five years to support growth and livability.

Toronto to allow larger apartment buildings around some transit stations (The Globe and Mail) New Aug. 15 rules legalize up to 30 storeys within 200 m of many stations, six storeys on side streets, and four storeys within ~800 m. Fourteen MTSAs remain unresolved. The city could risk $30M in federal funds if it doesn’t legalize sixplexes citywide.

Royal Architectural Institute of Canada needs to better advocate for design, culture, and the future of our profession (The Architects Newspaper) Canada still lacks a robust national architecture policy, unlike Australia’s NSW guide. After a decade of advocacy, critics say RAIC and politicians haven’t delivered the leadership and tools needed to embed design quality and cultural values in land-use decisions.

Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s vision for architecture’s future in the country (a response to criticism) (The Architects Newspaper) RAIC counters that architects are essential to solving housing, climate resilience, and reconciliation. The institute frames advocacy as necessity, not optics—arguing for greater recognition of architects’ role in delivering public outcomes amid overlapping national crises.

The Street-Corner Sensors That Track Flooding in Real Time (The New York Times) New York City is deploying hundreds of curb-level flood sensors, funded by the DEP, to capture granular, real-time data. Spurred by Hurricane Ida, the city plans to double the network to 500 by 2027, investing roughly $7 million to improve response.

Ontario increasing funding for housing-enabling infrastructure (Building) Ontario is injecting another $1.6B into its Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program (roads, bridges, water/wastewater), atop $2.3B already committed. Even so, the province trails its targets: 94,753 housing starts in 2024 versus a 125,000 goal; July starts fell 28% year-over-year.

Home construction in Ontario is at a ‘standstill,’ housing minister says (Global News) Despite awarding London $12M from the Building Faster Fund, Ontario’s housing minister warned construction has “stalled.” CMHC reported a 25% year-over-year drop in July housing starts, jeopardizing the province’s pledge to build 1.5 million homes by 2031.

Germany Revives a Building Style With a Bleak History: Prefab Housing (Bloomberg) Amid a 1.9 million-home shortfall, Germany is pushing serial, modular construction to speed delivery and cut costs. In Mannheim, a 194-unit complex uses factory-built elements. New housing minister Verena Hubertz aims to halve average construction costs through standardization.

Ontario and Toronto agree on plan to build more homes near transit (Building) The province approved density and height increases around 120 Toronto transit stations, aligning with a $200B, 10-year transit/infrastructure push. The plan could enable 1.5 million homes over 25 years; Toronto also received $67.2M via the Building Faster Fund to reward progress.

The Condo Crash (Maclean’s) Condo values since 2022: Toronto −16.5%, Vancouver −9%. Many presale buyers can’t close financing; owners face rents below carrying costs; lawsuits are mounting as developers seek damages from walk-aways. The “can’t-lose” condo narrative has unraveled for middle-class investors.

High-density land values nosedive in Greater Toronto Area (RENX) GTA high-rise land prices fell to an average $52 per buildable sq. ft. in Q2 2025 (from $95 in Q1). City of Toronto averaged $92 (−14% y/y; −37% from 2021’s $146 peak). Suburbs averaged $37 (−29% y/y; −38% from peak).

Province Approves 49 MTSAs in Toronto, Defers Others for Further Review (Urban Toronto) Ontario finalized new height/density policies for 49 Major Transit Station Areas, locking them into Toronto’s Official Plan. Once fully implemented across 120 MTSAs, the framework could accommodate over 1.5 million additional homes over 25 years; remaining areas await review.

New federal entity to prioritize Canadian-made, affordable housing projects (Building) Build Canada Homes will accelerate housing on federal lands and prioritize Canadian-made materials and industrialized methods to lower costs and carbon. The new entity aims to streamline delivery and scale affordability through manufacturing and construction innovation.

Canadian cities are unprepared for climate-driven migration — here’s what they can do (Building) Wildfire evacuations—like Manitoba’s recent 15,000-person displacement—preview growing internal climate migration. Cities must retool emergency housing, logistics, and planning to absorb surges, especially in hubs like Winnipeg where hotel capacity and services are quickly overwhelmed.

Parliamentary Budget Officer says 3.2 million new homes needed to close housing gap (Building) The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) said in a new analysis published on August 26 that the number of new home builds will be higher over the next three years but will gradually return to historical averages after that. The report said it expects an average of 227,000 new homes should be completed a year for the next decade. This means the PBO expects about 2.5 million homes to be built over the next 10 years. But it said Canada needs 3.2 million homes, leaving a gap of almost 700,000 homes between what is currently projected to be built, and what is needed. The vacancy rate hit 3.3 per cent in 2024, well below the historic average of 6.4 per cent between 2000 and 2019. PBO says if Canada is to close the housing gap entirely it will need to add about 290,000 homes every year for the next 10 years, which is more than Canada has ever built in a year. In 2024, Canada completed 276,000 new homes, which was the highest number to that point.