Canada now has a new budget.

That is not an insignificant achievement. The crazies in the US Congress, for example, have passed four budgets in the past forty years.

The federal government's first budget under Prime Minister Carney is a massive spending document on things like infrastructure and military. This is not a column about the political rights or wrongs of the budget—that is now done. Rather, it is a look at the strategy from a municipal point of view.

Perhaps the first thing to note is the long reach of the budget. The investments promised in things like ports, power corridors and natural resources are big, potentially game-changing investments for Canada. But they are not going to happen quickly. That means everybody in all six orders of government must readjust.

We have become overly concerned about quarterly results in business and annual reports. While applause for this budget was muted, my reading was this is the start of a new approach to building Canada's economy. Big changes take time; big wins don't happen quickly.

Municipalities understand that. The big, often community-changing investments they make (major transportation corridors, downtown improvements, sewage plants, landfills, and so on) have their full impact felt only years into the future.

The council members who have the courage to vote on these items do so knowing they won't be around to cut the ribbons or take the accolades. They will get nasty comments on social media and a few shouts at constituent meetings. That is the price of leadership.

The larger point is that long-term thinking and investment is a critical part of a city's growth and development. Bad decisions made (or not made) fifty years ago are the cause of traffic snarls today.

As urgent as today's municipal crises are, councils can't forget the future and how their city will grow or be stifled.

Our new federal budget has the courage to look into the future and try to set the foundation today for jobs and prosperity in the years and decades ahead. Civic leaders appreciate that thinking.

And while municipalities will continue to seek funding for today's problems, they equally will not forget ways to invest for the future.

That is what our great-grandparents did. That is what councils did a hundred years ago. That is how today's strong, vibrant communities were built.