A Playbook for Voluntary Regional Governance in Greater Toronto

The coronavirus pandemic has thrown into relief a range of health, social, and economic challenges for municipalities in the Greater Toronto region. These challenges – such as lack of affordable housing, income inequality, the need to spur economic development, and the impact of climate change – all spill across municipal boundaries and need to be addressed through cooperation and coordination at the regional scale.

André Côté, Gabriel Eidelman, and Michael Fenn propose a “playbook” for regional coordination in Greater Toronto. The authors recommend that senior municipal public servants take the lead, and propose six steps officials can take to develop their own voluntary, bottom-up approach to regional governance.

Read the full paper

Read the one-page summary

Perspectives on Regional Governance: Global, National, Local
This is the second paper in the IMFG series, “Perspectives on Regional Governance: Global, National, and Local.” The series examines how different jurisdictions in Canada and around the world have implemented regional governance models to help cities tackle longstanding challenges that cross municipal boundaries. It also looks at how regional governance could be implemented locally. Papers by global experts will analyze international and national case studies, and propose how city-regions such as the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area could engage in voluntary regional governance. The first paper in the series is Collaborative Regional Governance: Lessons from Greater Manchester, by Alan Harding.