Small Town Infrastructure is Being Retrofitted, Federal Funding Helps Drive This Change

September 2, 2025

By Krystie Johnston

Municipalities across Canada are tackling climate change. From big cities to small towns, every action counts. Densely populated metropolitan areas are usually the first places that experience infrastructure upgrades to public buildings and structures because they need to support the increased demands of a growing population. But small towns and cities are experiencing changes too. They are also upgrading their infrastructure by adopting the latest technologies like digitalization and artificial intelligence to become smarter and greener.

And there is a lot of support to help municipalities take on retrofits, such as industry partners and government that are ready to help, you just have to know where to look. Schneider Electric Canada, for example, is on a mission to be the trusted partner in sustainability and efficiency by empowering all to make the most of their energy and resources. Governments also help municipalities access funding and support to enable retrofits and upgrades that make them more energy efficient. Richard Henzie, Director of the Smart Building Division at Schneider Electric Canada, discusses retrofits and shares information on where to learn more.

Cities evolve, and their infrastructure does too

Henzie has been with Schneider Electric for about two decades, and he has seen cities grow at different rates. Living in British Columbia, he has seen municipalities like Surrey and Langford undergo intense periods of population growth, like other provinces and territories. To maintain that growth, public infrastructure like buildings, water systems, and electrical grids need to adapt.

“You see a lot of these cities go from a smaller population to a much bigger population, and that requires different demands. To do that, technology plays a big role, and from a Schneider Electric standpoint, we have solutions that are going to help in many respects, from water treatment or smart water systems through to smart grids and smart buildings, for example.”

Schneider Electric has solutions that help with building automation and operation as well that support new and existing buildings. “We are seeing a lot more public buildings being built, whether they are fire stations, or police stations, they are all being built with certain requirements around energy efficiency and energy performance,” says Henzie. And they are being built to be more resilient as climate-related events become ever more prevalent. “When you look at the resilience of these buildings, in times of natural disaster or weather interruptions, they need to be able to provide for the local municipality or city.”

Economics play a role

Henzie says that as municipalities undergo gentrification and their characters become more modern and advanced, downtown cores start to look different, and technology becomes more evident. And economics plays a role in how municipalities evolve. “It all requires retrofitting and modernization of the buildings. And I think we saw a lot of this start in the big cities because that is where you have the biggest properties. But now, with the technology that we have – and a lot more of it is cloud-based – it really brings that overall initial implementation cost down.”

New technology is often expensive due to research and development costs, but as it matures and production scales, prices tend to decrease, and it becomes more mainstream. Implementing it becomes more feasible, and governments budget for modernizations of municipal infrastructure. “We see a lot of funding coming from federal or municipal programs,” Henzie says. “For example, there is the Green Municipal Fund. There is the Smart Cities challenge. And in a lot of cases, these cities and municipalities can apply to get funding from local governments to fund a lot of the retrofits. I think this is helping to drive some of the transformation that we are seeing in the smaller cities.”

The digitalization of small-town infrastructure

Henzie says that, historically, municipalities were built before technologies like the internet and sensors were mainstream. Buildings and infrastructure were never connected; they essentially operated in isolation. “And so now, when things are going digital, this implies that we are installing digital technologies and collecting data. And through that data, we gain better visibility of the overall system. And so – whether you are looking at simple applications like street lighting or preparing the local grid for EV connections – everything is connected back to some type of digital backbone, and some type of software or automation system is helping to operate that overall system more efficiently and effectively.”

Funding from all levels of government

For smaller municipalities (and larger ones), there are a lot of resources available that can help support infrastructure retrofits and upgrades, from federal to provincial (and territorial) to municipal. Henzie says another one is BOMA, or the Building Owners and Managers Association, of which Schneider Electric is a member.

“They have a program they are running right now called ‘Enspire’. And essentially, they are funding energy and decarbonization studies, and from those recommendations that are made, they will be funding a portion of the retrofits that are recommended, with details yet to be released,” he says.

“They are done by approval, but it just goes to show you that there is a lot of funding out there that is really helping many of these building owners and operators – whether they are in large cities or small municipalities – through those retrofits municipalities are one-step closer to achieving their decarbonization targets of net zero ready by 2030 and net zero by 2050.”

Henzie says that Schneider works with governments to help identify and implement energy efficiency initiatives, like retrofitting buildings to help them reduce their emissions. “At a governmental level, we have a government relations team that is actively engaging at a federal and provincial level, specifically as it relates to energy efficiency, AI, and grid automation to ensure that we are offering any insights that we have, or feedback that we are hearing from the market and our customers.” He adds that they also lobby regulations and bills that come out, and once programs become available, they work directly with end customers to ensure they leverage the funding as much as possible.

How Schneider Electric supports infrastructure upgrades

Schneider works closely with their customers throughout the entire lifecycle of a project. Henzie says they can consult, advise, and implement solutions to owners and operators to help make their buildings more efficient. They can assist with everything from light, medium, to deep retrofits, depending on what the building needs. “We know that a huge amount of the overall total cost of a building is in its operation, about 70%, and so, implementing those technologies based on our recommendations will ensure the efficient operation of that building going forward.”

“I think that when we talk about retrofits, the first thing most think about is ripping out whatever exists and replacing it with something new,” Henzie says. “And I think our approach has been quite different. Our approach has been to work more with the end customer to try and leverage as much of what they already have as possible.” For Schneider, it is about creating a roadmap that helps them take steps to get to their end goal. “Maybe they want to reduce energy consumption by 10-15% by a certain date. Or they want to improve the overall comfort within a building, so they get less complaints about it being too hot or too cold.”

Conclusion

Henzie encourages people to get a building energy audit or some kind of assessment to understand the current state of their infrastructure and to work with a partner like Schneider Electric who can help guide the lifecycle of the project and help access existing funding to minimize the overall cost and implementation of the right technology. “Let’s really look at AI as an opportunity to leverage technology and help through a staged approach in terms of digitalizing and modernizing those buildings.”

More Information

Interested in learning more? Visit Schneider Electric Canada today!

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