Spacing and Massey College proudly present City in Sight: Canada’s constitutional city crisis, a special podcast series in support of the Massey Cities Summit (April 7-8, 2021).
THIS EPISODE: The Case for Local Power
Canadian cities often struggle with their lack of autonomy. Their status as “creatures of the province” can be a source of frustration: higher orders of government can undermine local leadership, and cities themselves sometimes lack the ability to realize their goals.
In this episode, Massey College Principal Nathalie Des Rosiers lays out the issues with cities’ low constitutional status.
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps makes the case for a better, reliable share of funding for cities, and greater ability to enact laws around things like climate change.
“If we had predictable, sustainable funding… we’d be able to say in five years we’ll be able to pay for our library or our water system.”
And Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson, who chairs the Big City Mayors’ Caucus, tells us why being a Canadian mayor can sometimes feel like sitting at the “kids’ table.”
“All we have is advocacy to push back, it’s a classic power imbalance relationship.”
Listen here for City in Sight:
Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, or SoundCloud, or follow our RSS feed.
