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作者

来源

URBAN AFFAIRS REVIEW,Vol.54,Issue5,P.931-961

语言

英文

关键字

local autonomy; urban governance; intergovernmental relations; MUNICIPALITIES; FEDERALISM; GOVERNMENT; POLICY; STATE; FEDERATION; RISE

作者单位

[Smith, Alison] Univ Montreal, Pavillon Lionel Groulx,3150 Rue Jean Brilliant, Montreal, PQ H3T 1J4, Canada. [Spicer, Zachary] Brock Univ, St Catharines, ON, Canada. Smith, A (reprint author), Univ Montreal, Pavillon Lionel Groulx,3150 Rue Jean Brilliant, Montreal, PQ H3T 1J4, Canada. E-Mail: alisonmary.smith@utoronto.ca

摘要

Canada's cities operate within restrictive legislative frameworks, yet incremental changes have resulted in some large Canadian cities accepting more policy responsibility. In this article, we ask if some big cities have a greater degree of local autonomy than others? We use existing Canadian and international literature to build a made-for-Canada index to quantitatively measure and compare levels of local autonomy by measuring vertical relations between 10 large cities and their respective provinces across three dimensions: legal-administrative autonomy, fiscal autonomy, and political autonomy. Overall, we find low levels of local autonomy, but differences along various dimensions of autonomy, notably political. Few countries in the world have senior levels of government that have been so resistant to loosen restraint and regulation as has been in the case in Canada; our results from this unique and important case shed new light on the reactions of subnational government to evolving demands for increased decentralization and local autonomy.