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LOCAL SELF GOVERNMENT - BULLETIN No. 11, December 2000

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. Opposition to Quebec municipal fusions unsuccessful
2. Re-establishing local institutions in New Brunswick
3. The Bill 140 straightjacket in Ontario
4. A new voice for local government in Ottawa
5. Subscribe to the bulletin.
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1. Opposition to Quebec municipal fusions unsuccessful

The opposition to forced amalgamation (fusion is the term used) in Quebec has been overwhelming, but it has had little impact on the provincial government. Instead, Lucien Bouchard’s administration is pushing ahead with Bill 170, which is expected to receive third reading by December 20.

Bill 170 amalgamates the largest urban areas in the province – Montreal, Montreal’s South Shore, Quebec City, Quebec City’s south shore, and Outaouais, across the river from Ottawa – by the end of 2001. In the interim, the decisions of all locally elected councils are subject to control by a provincially appointed transition team using a structure and powers very similar to the regime imposed for Ontario amalgamations.

On December 10, a crowd estimated at 50,000 demonstrated in Montreal against fusion. This followed referendums in many municipalities which produced strong negative votes. McGill Economics professor William Watson lives in Montreal West, and on December 18 wrote in an op-ed piece in the Montreal Gazette, `In my little town's referendum on forced mergers, 80 per cent of eligible voters showed up. The result was an electoral avalanche: 97 per cent against, 3 per cent for. The Parti Quebecois government says the break-up of Canada can be decided by a vote of 50 per cent plus one, but 97 per cent to 3 per cent leaves it wholly unmoved.’ (http://www.montrealgazette.com/editorial/pages/001218/5033258.html ) In the City of Westmount, with a voter turnout of 63 per cent, more than 98 per cent voted against amalgamation. The strength of the opposition was worrying enough to Montreal mayor Pierre Bourque, who has been pushing for `one island, one city’, that he began organizing a group in favour of amalgamation

The Bouchard government has simply continued swiftly on its course. After Premier Bouchard and his Minister of Municipal Affairs Louise Harel met with protesting mayors on December 14, Harel emerged from the meeting saying `We will proceed as planned with the adoption of Bill 170.’

This is not only a bad precedent for local government: it’s a bad precedent for democratic decision-making. The wholesale destruction of local institutions is of no benefit to those who wish to improve decision-making at the local level. It promises years of bureaucratic confusion and resident unrest, with decreasing levels of service to city residents. Canadian cities deserve better.

2. Re-establishing local institutions in New Brunswick

Four years after one provincial regime abolished them, local school boards are being re-established throughout New Brunswick. Premier Bernard Lord followed through on an election promise, and in late November introduced amendments to the Education Act.

Elvy Robichaud, Minister of Education, said `The main element of the new structure is the establishment of 14 autonomous District Education Councils with local decision-making authority, within the context of provincial standards. These councils will be set up through open elections that will be held in conjunction with municipal elections May 14, 2001.’

Councils will have authority to hire and fire staff, manage school property including community use of schools, set local curriculum within provincial policy, determine budgets, and generally run schools. These are the controls taken from Alberta School Boards, which generated the Alberta School Board case before the Supreme Court of Canada, documented in the Library of this web site.

The total number of primary and secondary students in New Brunswick is under 130,000, of which two thirds are Anglophone. This means that most school boards will be responsible for 10,000 students or less, and between 300 - 400 teachers. (In comparison, school board consolidation in 1997 in Ontario has created very large boards. One such board, the Toronto District Board of Education, is responsible for managing 300,000 students although it has virtually no power over its budget.)

Could New Brunswick be on the leading edge of change in Canada? Are the merits of local self government being re-discovered by provincial authorities? Or is this just one exceptional bright spot in a dismal scene?

The government’s discussion paper can be accessed at http://www.gov/nb.ca/legis/comite/54/educ/discuss.htm and the announcement of the new legislation at http://www.gov.ca/cnb/news/edu/2000e1005ed.htm

3. The Bill 140 straightjacket in Ontario

Within a two week period in late November and early December, the Ontario provincial government gave first, second and third readings (no committee hearings were permitted) to Bill 140, the Continued Protection for Property Taxpayers Act. The new act provides the Minister of Finance with extraordinary regulatory control over every aspect of the property tax system, including the ability of municipalities to increase property tax levies. This is accomplished by the Minister setting formulas that determine which municipalities can increase taxes on which classes of property, depending on the ratio between commercial and residential tax burdens.

The legislation is extraordinarily complicated and virtually impossible for any ordinary ratepayer to understand, perhaps in a hope that complication can hide its arbitrary nature. The Ministry’s Backgrounder may be found at http://www.gov.on.ca/FIN/english/bke-proptax.htm

But its impact is perfectly clear, and the Minister of Finance Ernie Eves has already indicated the direction which his regulations will take: some municipalities will be required to restrict any tax increase to the class of properties known as single family homes (which includes condominiums and co-operatives.) Property tax increases will not be permitted to be levied by these municipalities on industrial or commercial properties, on office towers or rental apartment buildings.

Those municipalities subject to this extraordinary provision are the cities in Ontario with older downtowns such as Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Kingston, London, Windsor, Sault Ste. Marie. Suburban municipalities around Toronto such as Mississauga, Brampton, Markham, Richmond Hill, and Vaughan in York and Peel Regions are not subject to these restrictions.

There are two factors which make this new regulation particularly painful for a city like Toronto. New property assessments have been released throughout Ontario, and the average increase in the assessed value of single family homes in Toronto is 21 per cent, with average increases in the former City of Toronto of 35 per cent. The increased assessment of downtown office towers is 120 per cent, but Bill 140 prohibits that class of property from experiencing a tax increase.

Second, Toronto needs to generate at least an extra $150 million in tax revenue to meet known new costs in 2001. The 2001 costs of amalgamation are in the range of $70 million for staff salary harmonization, and loans of $200 million provided by the province as transitional funding for amalgamation must be repaid. Further expenses relate to public transit since the province has ended its 75 per cent capital subsidy and all operating subsidies.

The impact of these factors on single family homeowners, given the restrictions of Bill 140, will be a property tax increase of about 16 per cent. If Toronto could spreading tax increases among all classes of property as it has done in the past, the average increase would be less than 5 per cent.

Toronto City Council has yet to grapple with this issue. One can expect political pressure to begin to mount, in Toronto and in other cities, during the first two months of the new year, although it’s unclear what direction might be taken.

4. A new voice for local government in Ottawa

Larry Bagnell, executive director of the Association of Yukon Communities, and a member of the steering committee of this Local Self Government site, was elected on November 27 to Parliament for the riding of Yukon as a Liberal Party member. Larry is a strong voice for local self government. May that voice flourish in Ottawa, may we make good use of it.

5. Subscribe to this bulletin

The bulletin is sent, at no cost, to about 1000 individuals involved directly and indirectly in local government in Canada. We invite you to subscribe by going to the 'Bulletin' tab of the web site http://www.localselfgovt.org and following the instructions. More information about the sponsors of the bulletin, members of the advisory committee, and our discussion space, can be found on our web site. We appreciate your comments, your feedback, and items of interest that you wish to share with us and others who visit the web site.

With recent municipal elections in Ontario and Nova Scotia, some councillors have changed, and some e-mail addresses have changed. To ensure as wide a spread as possible for this bulletin, please forward any address changes you are aware of on your council to j.sewell@on.aibn.com