Canada as a highly urnanized nation: new implications for government

Article Abstract:

Although Canada is a highly urbanized nation, many important principles relating to its governance seem based on the assumption that such urbanization need not be fully recognized. The assumption is increasingly being questioned, thereby causing considerable problems at all levels of government. The first such problem is that provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms are now being employed to challenge electoral systems which give special treatment to non-urban areas. Notwithstanding the Supreme Court's recent decision in the Electoral Boundaries case, there is still reason to believe that a more thorough implementation of the represenation-by-population principle will strengthen the political interests of urban Canada. Secondly, as more Canadians live in major metropolitan areas, problems with organizing municipal government become obvious. The Greater Toronto Area offers the best example. Thirdly, even when metropolitan areas already possess reorganized metropolitan structures, such structures are rarely able to deal with such issues as transit, water supply and sewage, and garbage disposal. For most provinces other than Quebec, it is time to reconceptualize provincial governments as institutions primarily concerned with the major issues of urban life. Local governments of cities and towns would have a crucial role in delivering services and expressing local opinion. The role, if any, for existing top-tier metropolitan and regional authorities is much more difficult to envisage. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Local government, Metropolitan areas

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The impact of aboriginal land claims and self-government on Canadian municipalities

Article Abstract:

Local governments in Canada are directly affected by federal and provincial initiatives regarding land claims and aboriginal self-government. Land claims result in new lands being created within or near urban centres, which are owned or controlled by First Nations, either as reserves under the Indian Act or some form of "settlement land" created by a land-claims agreement. First Nations seek to not only own these lands, but also govern them. The overall jurisdiction of First Nations is still being defined. However, First Nations already have jurisdictions over local affairs on their own land. That jurisdiction is in key areas such as land use. As a result, as soon as First Nations lands are created within or adjacent to an urban centre, the local urban government must deal with a separate First Nation jurisdiction. The issues that these neighbouring jurisdictions need to resolve include compatibility of laws and enforcement of laws, tax-loss compensation and delivery of and payment for local services. There is little or no precedent for how this should be accomplished. The one common denominator that has emerged is that First Nations and urban councils, which enjoy a good working relationship, have all developed ways of dealing directly with each other on issues of mutual concern. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Political activity, Jurisdiction, Indigenous peoples, Autonomy, Autonomy (Political science), Native people's land claims, Indigenous people's land claims

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Towards a more diversified Canada: economic arguments for re-confederation

Article Abstract:

In the ongoing Canadian debate on confederation, variations across the country are almost invariably viewed as conditions that must be removed or at best tolerated. This paper provides an alternative view and model of confederation that builds on portfolio notions of diversification. Here, instead of seeing regional differences as barriers to a strong confederation, we envision building solidly on these differences and encouraging regions to differentiate themselves. Canada's diverse regions might then realize futures that are most appropriate to their resource endowments and human aspirations and that at the same time improve the economic growth and growth-volatility characteristics of the nation as a whole. Regions might pursue their comparative advantages rather than having to forego their distinctness in striving for a "national mean" - a mean all too frequently defined by values at the centre of economic and political power. The ensuing discussion expands this argument and applies it using two specific examples: securities regulation and housing policy. The paper concludes with some suggestions for instituting a more differentiated, diversified and decentralized form of confederation. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Multiculturalism, Regionalism

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