Three major trends are pushing us towards an inflection point in provincial-municipal arrangements. Adapting provincial-municipal arrangements to changing circumstances will require a shift in how the two orders of government understand their roles and the nature of their relationships.
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Three major trends are buffeting provincial-municipal arrangements in Ontario. The first is a growing recognition of the role cities and metropolitan regions play as centres of growth and national prosperity. The second is increasing complexity in the provincial-municipal relationship. The third is the emergence of threats to the fiscal health of Ontario municipalities.
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This paper finds that municipalities within Canadian metropolitan areas are signing very few inter-local agreements, especially in comparison to large American metropolitan areas, and provides some preliminary explanations for this trend. Overall, it is argued that provincially imposed regional initiatives and central city annexation is why so few Canadian cities view inter-local cooperation as a solution to servicing dilemmas.
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More than a decade since the amalgamations, two recent IMFG Papers examine the impact these reforms have had on the finances and service delivery in the country’s two biggest cities. This Perspectives paper highlights the key themes and arguments from the two papers.
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The paper first sets out the theory of expenditure assignment with respect to decentralizing infrastructure expenditure, and then considers how practice around the developing world appears to differ from what that theory appears to suggest.
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Following the 2002 amalgamation, half Montréal’s pre-amalgamation suburbs de-merged in 2006, leading to the creation of a smaller megacity with 19 decentralized boroughs. This paper identifies factors that affect the capacity of Montréal’s boroughs to fulfil their responsibilities.
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Can and should municipalities borrow more? What is the role of public-private partnerships (P3s) in addressing the municipal infrastructure gap?
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Do we need to have local agencies, boards and commissions (ABCs)? What is the appropriate geographic boundary (local, regional, provincial, etc.) for a particular policy task? Who should sit on the board of the ABC and should they be appointed or elected?
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