New State Spaces in Canada: Metropolitanization in Montreal and Toronto Compared (original) (raw)

Theme and Variations: Metropolitan Governance in Canada

IMFG Papers on Municipal Finance and Governance, 2020

This paper takes stock of current practices of metropolitan governance in Canada to identify patterns of institutional and policy development. While Canada was best known in the postwar decades for innovating two-tier metropolitan local governments in Toronto, Montr al, Winnipeg, and other cities, this model no longer exists at the metropolitan scale anywhere in the country. Instead, we see five distinct models in operation, sometimes in combination with one another: the “unicity,” or single-tier municipal model; the compulsory regional intergovernmental organization; the voluntary intermunicipal partnership; the metropolitan single-purpose body; and the provincial policy overlay. This diversity of institutional forms found across Canada reflects variation in both provincial systems of local government and geographies of urban settlement. It also points to both the flexibility of Canadian governance and policy making and the central role provincial governments play in establishing these systems.

Regionalism from above: intergovernmental relations in Canadian metropolitan governance

Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance, 2022

This article surveys recent developments in Canadian metropolitan governance. Canada was admired in the postwar period for the effectiveness of its two-tier and unitary metropolitan governments; however, few survive today as urbanisation patterns have become increasingly polycentric and intergovernmental relations more conflictual. Three models have emerged in Canada, sometimes in combination with one another: the multipurpose regional intergovernmental organisation, the single-purpose metropolitan agency, and the provincial metropolitan policy overlay. Examples of each are discussed, with an emphasis on the interplay of horizontal (intermunicipal) and vertical (provincial-municipal) intergovernmental relations. Ultimately, provincial governments are by virtue of their constitutional authority and spending power the only actors capable of establishing and maintaining durable institutions and policies of metropolitan scope, and they have chosen to do so in Canada's largest and most urbanised provinces.

Krawchenko, T. (2012). Institutional Solutions to Jurisdictional Fragmentation: The Implications of Regional Special Purpose Bodies for how City-regions are Governed in Canada

Dissertation: Carleton University, 2012

Continued patterns of urbanization are leading to ever larger and more complex urban regions. Regional institutions have arisen as a governance solution to address the problems of coordination across large, jurisdictionally fragmented urban regions. Regional special purpose bodies (RSPBs) are one such regional institutional arrangement. This dissertation examines RSPBs for transportation and transit governance in Canada, through the case studies of Translink (in Greater Vancouver) and Metrolinx (in Greater Toronto and Hamilton). This dissertation adds to the empirical research on the construction of regional political spaces, emerging institutional forms and their resultant implications for urban-regional governance. It focuses on a specific type of institutional shift in urban-regional governance, its causes and its consequences. Ongoing processes of urbanization make regional coordination a pressing issue—particularly in the area of transportation, which is of great importance to the environmental sustainability, social inclusivity, economic development, and livability of city regions. The adoption of RSPBs are symptomatic of the recognition that many aspects of planning are best addressed at a regional scale. They are reflective of an institutional evolution towards a regional ‘policy need,’ which raises the question of what such coordination at the regional scale means for the structure of politics in the longer term.

Exploring the metropolitan trap: the case of Montreal

Keywords: * Metropolitan governance; * democracy; * rescaling; * Canada; * Montreal Abstract This article analyses the normative dimension of metropolitan governance in the case of Montreal. According to the main schools of thought (the reform school, the public choice school, new regionalism and the rescaling approach), there is an ideal scale at which to achieve specific goals such as equality, efficiency, democracy and economic competitiveness. These ideologically oriented conceptions of metropolitan governance are assumed by actors and used as symbolic resources to build their own strategies, i.e. to support or contest institutional reforms — what we call the metropolitan trap. The case of Montreal, which underwent two successive institutional reforms between 2000 and 2006, provides empirical evidence for this idea. Our analysis reveals that the Government of Quebec and local elected councils of Greater Montreal are trapped by these normative conceptions, especially the old regionalisms. However, scalar strategies do not compete equally, as the institutional context legitimates specific approaches to metropolitan governance. Résumé Cet article analyse la dimension normative de la gouvernance métropolitaine dans le cas de Montréal. Les principales écoles théoriques (de la réforme, des choix publics, du nouveau régionalisme et du redimensionnement) estiment qu'il existe un échelon idéal pour la réussite d'objectifs particuliers, tels que l'égalité, l'efficacité, la démocratie et la compétitivitééconomique. Orientées idéologiquement, ces conceptions de la gouvernance métropolitaine servent de ressources symboliques aux acteurs qui les adoptent afin de bâtir leurs propres stratégies, pour ou contre les réformes institutionnelles, d'où ce qui est appelé ici le ‘piège métropolitain’. À cet égard, Montréal, qui a connu deux réformes institutionnelles successives entre 2000 et 2006, apporte des éléments empiriques. L'analyse révèle que le gouvernement du Québec et les conseils d'élus locaux qui administrent le Grand Montréal sont piégés par ces conceptions normatives, notamment par les anciens régionalismes. Par ailleurs, les stratégies d'échelle ne rivalisent pas sur un pied d'égalité puisque le contexte institutionnel ne légitime que certaines approches de gouvernance métropolitaine.

Learning from experience? Ottawa as a cautionary tale of reforming Urban government

Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice, 2001

This article examines the saga of local government restructuring in Canada's capital city. Specifically, it analyzes the interplay between provincial and local agendas for local government reform over many years, which culminated in provincial legislation and a one-year transition process to establish one municipality for the Ottawa city region. In doing so, the article addresses the extent to which the Ottawa transition demonstrates learning from other major urban restructuring efforts and the extent to which the Ottawa case provides new insights for future local government reform efforts. Key conclusions are that the key motivation for provincially initiated reform-cost saving through simplification of the local government structure in Ottawa-does not fully coincide with local needs and interests. Furthermore, the promise of financial savings has proven difficult to realize as a result of the local politics surrounding existing municipal debt and unresolved human resource management costs. Instead, future benefits from the amalgamation may lie in improved capacity to manage physical development, environmental sustainability, and cultural diversity.