INDEPTH: MUNICIPALITIES
City States
CBC News Online | July 16, 2004
A series on CBC Radio's The House
Canadian cities are, by law, political creations of their provinces. Cities today operate huge, costly infrastructures of roads, sewers, and transit systems... They offer a vast range of social services that go far beyond the old concerns of pothole fixing and garbage pickup.
And they have no way to raise the money to pay for any of it. In most cases, the provincial government, not the municipality, establishes the taxation rates and jurisdictions; cities can't tax. The paperwork masks this fact, by implying to local ratepayers that the city is the collecting and distributing body. But the power… and the money… run through the provincial legislature and not every dollar collected in taxes necessarily comes back to the community.
The new federal government has promised cities some extra sources of cash: A share of the gasoline tax charged at retail fuel pumps. Also, a rebate on the GST that city governments pay on everything they purchase in order to conduct city business.
But city leaders say this is just a beginning. Urban critics question the whole notion and perspective of federal financial "aid". Canada's cities aren't third world countries, they say - they're the driving force of the entire economy. They don't need "aid", they need "recognition."
City States, a series presented on CBC Radio's The House, examines the challenge confronting our major urban centres in areas such as affordable housing, modern policing, growth and suburban sprawl. These challenges are directly affected by national government policy, but play out locally in big-city streets and neighborhoods.
The series runs Saturday mornings after the 9:00 a.m. news on CBC Radio One (9:30 in NL).
Saturday, July 17th 2004, David Michael Lamb looks at Canada's largest city, Toronto, and poses the question: "Who governs, who pays?"
Saturday, July 24th 2004, Alex Mason compares two New Brunswick cities, Moncton and Saint John. One is booming, the other not.
Saturday, July 31st 2004, Christopher Grosskurth looks at the cross-border garbage trade and the trash talk which links Toronto and a small town in Michigan.
Saturday, August 7th and 14th 2004, Yvette Brend and Dave Seglins examine the issues around policing the modern city.
Saturday, August 21st 2004, Richard Gleeson compares the North's largest cities, Whitehorse and Yellowknife.
Saturday, August 28th 2004, Jean Carter in Mississauga, Ontario discovers the changed face of Canadian homelessness.
Saturday, September 4th 2004, a panel discussion among former Winnipeg mayor Glen Murray, academic Larry Bourne, and policy analyst Anne Golden is the series finale.
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List of big city mayors, from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities:
Vancouver: Larry Campbell
Surrey: Doug W. McCallum
Calgary: David Bronconnier
Edmonton: Bill Smith
Regina: Pat Fiacco
Saskatoon: Don Atchison
Winnipeg: Sam Katz
Brampton: Susan Fennell
Hamilton: Larry Dilanni
Kitchener: Carl Zehr
London: Anne Marie DeCicco
Mississauga: Hazel McCallion
Ottawa: Bob Chiarelli
Windsor: Eddie Francis
Toronto: David Miller
Gatineau: Yves Ducharme
Montréal: Gérald Tremblay
Laval: Gilles Vaillancourt
Québec: Jean-Paul L'Allier
Longueil: Jacques Olivier
Halifax: Peter J. Kelly
St. John's: Andy Wells
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Watch Brian Stewart's documentary "Cities: The Last Colonies"
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