This presentation describes the structural history of school boards, boards of health, and hydro commissions in Ontario. The goal is to understand how and why these institutions have changed over the long term, focusing on how ideas, organized interests, and political opportunities can explain the long-term patterns, timing, and pace of institutional change.

Millennials are changing the face of cities. Educated, diverse and tech-savvy, this highly urbanized generation of ‘teens to thirty-somethings’ is expressing a new set of values about how they want to live, work, and play. Yet, their influx into North America’s cities is also surfacing difficult questions about housing affordability, access to employment, gentrification, and race. As urban demographics and civic values shift, what will the implications be for North America’s cities?

Discussions about urban governance often overlook the role of city residents, concentrating instead on developers, politicians and municipalities. This presentation focuses on the case of a neighbourhood civic movement in Toronto and its residents’ strategies to influence local governance and development.

The shortage of affordable housing is a major problem in Toronto. But little new affordable supply is being built, social housing units require major capital repairs, and provincial and federal finances are tight. In the United States, the private sector plays a greater role in building and rehabilitating affordable housing through tax credits and innovative financing and partnership models. Are there lessons for Ontario?

A growing number of cities are turning to public-private partnerships (P3s) to finance their infrastructure investments. What are the advantages and disadvantages of P3s as a municipal financing model? How do they work? And what role do the federal and provincial governments play?

Can and should Canadian municipalities be borrowing more? If so, what measures and financing models should cities adopt to ensure additional borrowing is cost-effective and responsible?

As we count down to the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Para-Pan Am Games, what are the lessons from other cities which welcomed the world? How can new venues and infrastructure be planned to maximize community benefits and reduce disruption? What happens after the big event?

This panel discussion features remarks from Enid Slack, Richard M. Bird, Jean-Philippe Meloche, and François Vaillancourt.

Today, American cities generally have more independent authority and fiscal autonomy than their Canadian counterparts. Home Rule status and other legal rights provide municipal governments with significant authority to govern their own affairs without constant state intervention. Yet, in the age of devolution, has federalism really worked to support the service delivery challenges of American cities?

Excessive borrowing by local and regional governments is an important source of macroeconomic instability in monetary unions. Credit markets often indulge this behaviour (lending too much at excessively low interest rates) if they expect national officials to bail out struggling local jurisdictions. Drawing on cross-national and Canadian data, Kyle Hanniman discusses the role and limits of fiscal federal institutions in shaping these bailout beliefs.