Bargaining for Cities. Municipalities and Intergovernmental Relations: An Assessment

How do municipal mayors and councillors communicate with other levels of government? Evidence from a multi‐level survey of Canadian elected officials

“…The literature summarized above suggests that the informal processes of provincial‐municipal and federal‐municipal interaction among elected representatives at all levels are a crucial yet under‐explored component of the Canadian municipal intergovernmental system. Past research has generally explored these informal relationships and intergovernmental dialogue using case study and interview methods across several municipalities and policy domains (Feldman & Graham, 1979; Horak & Young, 2012). Our analysis builds on this work, using survey methods to offer a pan‐Canadian look at municipal intergovernmental relations from the perspective of hundreds of municipal, provincial, and federal elected representatives engaged in these processes.…”

“…Yet each is rarely overseen by a single elected equivalent to a federal or provincial minister. The question “who speaks for cities?” seldom comes with a simple answer (see Feldman & Graham, 1979). As a result, the nature of intergovernmental dialogues between elected representatives across the three orders of government “vary profoundly by policy domain” (Lucas & Smith, 2020; 427).…”

Canadian Urban Politics: Another “Black Hole”?

“…This focus on institutions was cemented by the extensive experimentation with new forms of local and regional government, beginning with the establishment of Metropolitan Toronto in 1954. By the early 1970s, city–regional authorities had been set up in nearly every major Canadian city, providing the impetus for scholarship on metropolitan government (Robson, 1966; Tennant & Zirnhelt, 1973), administrative and decision‐making structures (Plunkett, 1968; Plunkett & Betts, 1978), and provincial–municipal relations (Dupré, 1968; Feldman & Graham, 1979). This work was overwhelmingly focused on delineating the structures and logics of government institutions.…”

Canadian Political Science and the City: A Limited Engagement

“…While more traditional examinations of jurisdiction and intergovernmental fiscal and regulatory relations continued~Dupré, 1968; Feldman and Graham, 1979;Siegel, 1980!, others became interested in the democratic potential of municipal government. Rather, it transformed the study of institutions by embedding them in society-centred and systemic analyses.…”

“…Rather, it transformed the study of institutions by embedding them in society-centred and systemic analyses. While more traditional examinations of jurisdiction and intergovernmental fiscal and regulatory relations continued (Dupré, 1968; Feldman and Graham, 1979; Siegel, 1980), others became interested in the democratic potential of municipal government. Magnusson (1983: 30), for example, considered provincial imposition of regional structures over top of municipalities by provinces as undermining rather than enhancing the ability of city–regions to articulate goals—a position echoed in more recent critiques (Andrew, 2001).…”