The politics of local economic development in Canada's city-regions: New dependencies, new deals, and a new politics of scale

Abstract

This paper examines the current round of 'scale politics' between Canada's largest global cities and the existing national policy architecture and intergovernmental context. Economic actors in Canada's largest cityregions feel hamstrung by the existing institutional arrangements which remain ill-suited to the changing urban realities and global spatial flows. While the long-standing national regime is now under challenge, the extent to which it can be changed is also under question as the federal government seems reluctant to implement any explicit urban-based policies that could be seen further to accentuate regional (especially urban -rural) difference in Canada. The main thrust of this paper, then, is to provide an explanation for the limits of institutional convergence in the politics of local economic development in Canada. This is not to say that there is not evidence of convergence in terms of economic strategies and institutional responses, only that Canada's particular round of 'scale politics' must be situated in the history of Canada's particular national economic regime, including the origins of local economic development, state forms and history of local dependencies.

‘Deal or no deal?’ Governing urban infrastructure funding and financing in the UK City Deals

“…They favour and narrow involvement down to those actors willing and able to cope with limited consultation and deliberation, and "compressed time scales" (Jessop 2008: 194). Such governance differs from the more formalised and structured agreements set within clear constitutional frameworks with demarcated separation of powers characteristic of managerialism and practised between city, state and national tiers in federal systems such as Canada (Donald 2005) and centralised systems such as France (Green and Booth 1996). This UK version of city deal-making has emerged and flourished amidst the administrative bureaucracy, formalised policymaking protocols, institutional constraints and political accountability, and scrutiny characteristic of narrower conceptions of urban managerialism (Leonard 1982).…”

Do urban casinos affect nearby neighbourhoods? Evidence from Canada

“…A discussion on how these decisions are made will help us to understand how this non‐random selection issue tends to affect the results and how we can address it econometrically. The gaming industry in Canada reflects the complicated relationships between the federal, provincial, and municipal governments (Donald, ). The 1969 and 1985 amendments to the Criminal Code's Gambling Provisions document the transfer of power from the federal government to provincial governments.…”

The Journalistic Field and the City: Some Practical and Organizational Tales about the Toronto Star's New Deal for Cities

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