More or Less Autonomy for Municipalities
Unlike other OECD countries that have integrated urban policy making, Neil Bradford described Canada’s approach to urban policy as a “largely disjointed and implicit national undertaking”.
The federal government’s support to cities is disjointed and implicit in a way that all the supports are by-product of other policies. For example, the Federal government may run a number of programs at city-level to achieve some national priorities. In other words, the higher layers of governments do not have a direct interest in urban policies.
During COVID, there was a delay in municipalities receiving federal funds. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated that “It is up to the provinces to manage and fund municipalities”.
The provincial-municipal relationship seems like a stretch in urban policy.
Although the provincial governments work more closely with the municipal governments to tackle urban issues, the provincial governments have an ambiguous attitude. It is contradictory that while the provinces made much effort to empower the municipalities through legislative change, they are reluctant to delegate full power, which has put restrictions on municipal governance.
For example, municipal taxing powers have generally been restricted to property. The municipalities have desperately demanded new sources of revenue, but have been turned down.
In my opinion, municipalities are in an awkward position in urban policy. They have autonomy, but not all the autonomy that they need.
I thought this is a very unique system. I was used to seeing and thinking that decision-making as a top-down process where the lower levels get instructions from upper levels. Though problems come with it, it managed to work.
Bradford argued that the implicit involvement still allows the federal government to actively and meaningfully engage in urban policies, I wonder how would an explicit government work in the Canadian context. Can the municipalities be autonomous or not autonomous at all?
References:
Bradford, Neil. “A National Urban Policy for Canada? the Implicit Federal Agenda.” Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation, 18 Feb. 2022, https://centre.irpp.org/research-studies/national-urban-policy-canada-implicit-federal-agenda/.
Eidelman, G. (n.d.). Urban Policy Lecture Slide 4.
