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The bulletin is prepared by John Sewell, the site manager, with the assistance and under the guidance of the advisory committee. It is published monthly, and is being sent to a wide range of people across Canada. Past copies of the bulletin will be archived in this section of the site.

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Bulletin No. 12, January 2001
LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT BULLETIN – NO. 12, January 2001

The purpose of this bulletin is to focus debate on the need to increase local self-government in Canada and to help local communities achieve more autonomy. The local self government web site is http://www.localselfgovt.org

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In this issue:
1. Re-establishing Local Government, Part 2 (Australia)
2. Court action on Quebec fusions
3. The GTSB - a failed regional structure
4. Subscribe to the bulletin
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1. Re-establishing Local Government, Part 2

In the last issue of the bulletin we reported how the government of New Brunswick has taken strong steps to re-establish local school boards, after abolishing them several years ago.

The same positive change now seems about to happen in Australia.

In Bulletin No. 1, November 1999, we reported on the extraordinary attack on local government in the State of Victoria, Australia. We wondered whether this might be a worrisome global model.

Now Victoria is rethinking the role of local government. A constitutional convention was held in late November attended by representatives from local and state governments. The recommendations by the convention delegates constitute a basic “Charter of Rights” for local government. They are a fascinating set of principles, section 2(a) having particular resonance for Canadians:

1. The [Australian] Constitution shall provide that a democratically elected local government is, within the parameters of the Constitution, entitled to operate as a distinct sphere of government.

2. The Constitution shall make provision for democratically elected local governments to be accorded general powers which shall include and will not be limited to:
a) To provide for the peace, order and good government of its municipal district;
b) To facilitate and encourage appropriate development of its municipal district in the best interests of the community;
c) To provide equitable and appropriate services and facilities for the community and to ensure that those services and facilities that are managed efficiently and effectively;
d) To manage, improve and develop the resources of its district effectively and efficiently;
e) The right to raise revenue.

3. The Constitution provide that there shall continue to be a system of democratically elected local government, and that abolition of the system of local government require the majority vote of the electors of the State by way of referendum.

4. The Constitution shall recognise each local government as a democratically elected governing body, primarily responsible and accountable to the citizens within its boundaries.

5. The Constitution recognise that while the authority of local government derives from its statutory base, local governments derive legitimacy from the fact that they are democratically elected to represent the needs of the community within their boundaries.

6. The Constitution shall recognise and protect the right of electors in each municipality to democratically elect its local government.

7. The Constitution shall recognise that local government within the State consists of individual local governments, which shall be referred to as ‘local governments’.

8. The Constitution shall recognise the integrity of each local government.

9. The Constitution shall establish a process for determining the adjustment or restructuring of one or more municipal boundaries. That process shall observe the following principles:
a) A petition for adjustment or restructure of municipal areas may be initiated by: (i) electors within the municipality; and/or (ii) one or more local governments; and/or (iii) the State Government.
b) An independent process shall be established to seek submissions and otherwise consult and make recommendations.

10. The Constitution shall provide that the only ground for the dismissal of a democratically elected local government is when it is unable to govern or is acting unlawfully.

11. The Constitution shall provide that if a local government is unable to govern, there shall be a period of not more than 3 months of mediation or other mechanisms of resolution (consistent with the Code of Good Governance). If its ability to govern remains in question then the responsible Minister shall recommend dismissal to Parliament.

12. A local government cannot be dismissed without a majority of both Houses of Parliament.

13. The Constitution shall recognise that on the dismissal of a local government an election shall be called immediately; the responsible minister will appoint a caretaker; and the election shall be held no later than three months after the notice dismissal.
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It should be noted that these proposals are only recommendations and have yet to be acted on. However, they seem to represent a welcome trend away from denigrating local government and instead valuing it.

Further documents concerning this initiative may be found on the library tab of this website.

2. Court Action on Quebec Fusions

Opposition to the forced amalgamations of municipalities in the Province of Quebec continues. The City of Westmount went to court on January 15 seeking a court injunction to prevent the implementation of Bill 140 and the establishment of transition boards which throw local councils into trusteeship. Westmount’s court action is funded largely from a $500,000 allocation set aside by the city to challenge the legislation, although to ensure the legal action cannot be stopped by provincial intervention, the plaintiffs are various citizens, including the mayor.

Westmount’s lawyers were prepared to make several arguments against fusion: that the city was established by patent, not municipal law, and therefore it can’t be dissolved as easily as the province had hoped; that the bilingual status of Westmount is challenged by Bill 140 contrary to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms; that putting Westmount’s assets into the new City of Montreal pot is expropriation without compensation.

One other municipality - Baie d'Urfé – had already decided to join in the Westmount action, but surprisingly, eleven more municipalities were represented in court on January 15 - Anjou, Beaconsfield, Dorval, Kirkland, Ile Bizard, Montreal East, Montreal West, Town of Mont-Royal, Pointe Claire, Cote-St-Luc and St-Laurent. Since then Hampstead has also joined in, which means more than half of the municipalities on the Island of Montreal that will be abolished by Bill 140 are taking court action against the Bill. The court set aside February 19 - 23 to hear the city cases.

DemocraCité, a Montreal citizens’ organisation, has launched its own court case against fusion. Its web site http://www.democracite.org contains up-to-date news in English of the court case, and good links to news coverage in the Montreal Gazette.

3. The GTSB - a failed regional structure

It is possible to create regional structures that do work well, although people in the Greater Toronto Area might have difficulty believing this. The Greater Toronto Services Board (GTSB) was established in 1999 by the province with representatives from two dozen local governments in the Toronto area. The only significant power it was given was running the regional commuter service, GO Transit. It is also responsible for funding GO Transit from local sources since the province downloaded those costs. The Board meets monthly, but given its lack of powers it has not even become a talking-shop or a place where common ground can be hammered out.

The GTSB limped through its first two years of life. When its chair, Alan Tonks, was elected to parliament last November, there was no rush of candidates for the job. Only one person showed any interest in the position, former Toronto councillor Gordon Chong, who has good political party links to the provincial government. Immediately after his appointment by GTSB members on January 12, Mr. Chong said `If there is no indication this board is going to be able to do something of substance, there’s no point in continuing. There’s no point in flogging a dead horse.’

Just as these statements were being made a rumour began circulating that indeed the province would expand the GTSB’s mandate. During the November municipal election Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman found a technical problem which permitted the City to back away from a controversial decision to dump its solid waste in the abandoned Adams Mine in northern Ontario. The proponent of the Adams Mine dump is a good friend of Premier Mike Harris, whose administration cleared the way for the dump after previous provincial governments had refused to provide environmental approvals.

The rumour is that the province will take authority for solid waste disposal away from the city and give it to the GTSB. This will give the GTSB new powers, while ensuring the city’s solid waste goes to Adams Mine. When on Toronto City Council, Mr. Chong voted for the Adams Mine dump.

So the GTSB might become more powerful after all, even if it’s for a bad cause. It would be another example of the province abusing a regional structure for its own purposes.

But with a more willing provincial government, regional government can be made to work in the interests of local governments – as it apparently has in Alberta. More on that in the next bulletin.

4. Subscribe to this bulletin

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