The Commons is grounded in a participatory process of decision-making engaging all relevant stakeholders. In civic affairs, this means participation from all sectors at the local level. In Canada’s system, however, where both division of legislative powers and generation of revenues reside at the federal and provincial levels, municipalities are the poor cousins in this governance mix. On major issues of the day, local participation in decision-making is limited to consultation at best.
One transformative structural change in democratic governance in Canada would be designating large municipalities as Charter Cities and delegating to them both responsibility and resources (i.e. taxing power) to address major issues of the day. Kofi Hope explores both the possibilities and challenges of Charter Cities below. – Peter Clutterbuck
“It’s an achievable and potentially transformative approach to give Toronto real control over its own destiny. Howard Green, a member of Charter City Toronto, a group pushing for greater power for large municipalities, notes the charter city idea is “about a systemic change to the relationship between the province and the city.”
At its heart would be a new arrangement, agreed to between the province and the city, to increase the city’s ability to govern itself and raise revenues.”
