User fees are one of the principal funding mechanisms for a range of municipal services, from water and waste management to transit and recreation. New IMFG paper explains why user fees are a good source of revenue for municipalities, how they are employed in Ontario, and how to navigate the trade-off between efficiency and fairness.
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New IMFG paper explores how the development of Toronto’s Pearson Airport catalyzed informal regional governance and planning processes in the Toronto area.
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Over the past decade, most major cities have received some new revenue sources. Yet, little is known about how cities actually use them or how they have benefitted. This paper reviews data from the municipal financial statements of the largest city in each province to investigate how Canadian cities are employing their revenue sources and whether more sources lead to more revenues and better services in cities.
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Canadian cities are on the front lines addressing and dealing with the impacts of Canada’s major policy challenges, including the COVID-19 crisis. However, they remain “little siblings” in Canadian federalism, often ignored by the federal government or overruled by the provinces. This paper examines four specific challenges cities face because of this situation, as well as two fundamental steps that can be taken to address the imbalance in Canadian governance and fiscal relations.
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This paper surveys the status of cities in national constitutions and provides a comparative analysis of three significant recent attempts to strengthen the constitutional status of cities in India, South Africa, and Brazil.
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This paper identifies specific policy fields where new tri-level agreements could have a positive impact and closes with six principles to inform their design and implementation.
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The paper suggests that community consultation be integrated into the earliest stages of the planning process to ensure that such plans proceed into the expensive construction process with much broader support.
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Engagement to Action: Improving Policy Outcomes Through Better Consultation contextualizes and summarizes remarks from a panel discussion on the role of public consultation in policy making within the context of intensifying polarization, erosion of trust, and increasing diversity.
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