Building metropolitan governance capacity: The case of the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal

Abstract

This article is about building metropolitan governance capacity. Based on the case study of the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (the Montreal Metropolitan Community), the authors seek to understand how this new metropolitan institution develops its capacity to manage metropolitan issues. What factors influence metropolitan governance capacity? What are the impacts of actor behaviour, incentive structures, and political leadership on that capacity? Specifically, results focus on two of the CMM's areas of responsibility: land‐use planning, and social and affordable housing. Based on the analysis of official documents of the CMM (its act of incorporation, activity reports, budget, etc.) and thirteen interviews with elected municipal officials and public servants, the authors show that the building of metropolitan governance capacity is influenced by the interactions between those three factors, as well as by other elements specific to each context.

A sizeable effect? Municipal council size and the cost of local government in Canada

“…The issue of council size at the municipal level in Canada is strongly linked to the debate over local governance structures and their efficiency. This is consistent with the tendency to focus on institutions (Lafortune and Collin ) and government efficiency (Kushner and Siegel ) when local governance is discussed in Canada. In Quebec, reducing the number of councillors was one of the benefits touted by a government commissioned report on municipal reorganization in the late 1990s (Bernard ).…”

The Dynamics between State Control and Metropolitan Governance Capacity

“…The province of Quebec initiated the reform, but it was not popular among some of the amalgamated municipalities and political parties. Political power relations changed, and the party that opposed the reform won in the 2003 provincial elections, which led to de-mergers of the newly amalgamated cities (Lambert 2008;Collin and Tomàs 2004;Lafortune and Collin 2011).…”

“…The remainder of the financing comes from conditional transfers from the provincial government, loans and other revenues. Overall, the CMM's annual budget is modest (Lafortune and Collin 2011;CMM 2015).…”