Hidden in Plain View: Local Agencies, Boards, and Commissions in Canada

Everywhere we turn in municipal politics, from transit to housing, conservation to libraries, education to policing, we encounter ABCs: local or regional public agencies, with a single or limited set of functions, that receive their revenue partly or wholly from municipal governments, provincial governments, user charges, or some combination of these. These ABCs (or “special-purpose bodies”) provide hugely important services, spend large sums of money, and raise serious questions about democratic accountability. Yet we spend little time thinking about how they are governed.

Supporters of local ABCs argue that some services should be kept at arm’s length from municipal politics and that ABCs allow certain operations to be governed by those with an interest or expertise in the field, rather than by municipal politicians. Those who oppose ABCs argue that they keep local councils from coherent budgeting, priority-setting, and policymaking and that ABCs are nearly invisible to the public, making important decisions without sufficient local oversight and accountability.

This paper poses three practical and important questions. The first concerns existence: do we need to have ABCs at all? The second is about scale: what is the appropriate geographic boundary (local, regional, provincial, etc.) for a particular policy task? The third is about personnel: who should sit on the board of the ABC and should they be appointed or elected? We consider each of these questions in light of experiences with local ABCs in Canada and abroad.