Municipal Structure and Services

Most students of local government and a growing number of practitioners in both elective and appointive offices have come to the conclusion that its structure, responsibilities and financial resources are out of step with the needs and realities of the modem Canada. From the perspective of the citizens in most Canadian municipalities the structure of local government is virtually unintelligible, its focus of responsibility elusive and, despite its claim of being the level of government 'closest to the people,' local government is not infrequently found to be unresponsive to their needs. The current difficulties confronting local government throughout Canada, particularly with respect to its structure and responsibilities, stem from the fact that it was developed to meet the conditions of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It was during this earlier period that much of the present framework of local government in Canada was established and 'when conditions of transportation and the requirements for public services necessitated geographically smaller units of municipal government and when much less was demanded of government.' Some of the responsibilities which were originally assigned to local government and for a long time considered to be local in nature, have now assumed a more general character. Such services as education, health, social welfare, housing, and in some provinces still, the administration of justice, have become, in fact, shared responsibilities of both provincial and municipal governments with the latter having to devote an increasing proportion of their limited revenues principally the tax on real property to the support of these services. The number of incorporated municipal governments in Canada in 1971 exceeded 4,400. As might be expected the largest provinces in terms of population account for more than half of these, with Quebec having over I,5oo and Ontario almost 9oo. But a province such as Saskatchewan has nearly 800 municipal governments and Alberta over 300. Nova Scotia with a total popu

Business · Canadian Policy and Governance · Political Systems and Governance