City in Sight Podcast series
Cities are drivers of Canada’s economy: they are home for 80+% of our population and create a large percentage of its’ wealth. Nevertheless, municipal governments struggle to invest in appropriate infrastructures and necessary services, leading to considerable gaps in affordable housing, public transit, and social services.
Many have suggested that Cities’ legal vulnerability has prevented them from engaging in long term financial or social planning. Because they depend on support from other governments (provincial, territorial, regional, and federal), Cities are unable to fully develop long-term programs and infrastructure. Cities struggle to respond to their communities’, such as climate change and massive social inequalities.
The City in Sight Podcast aims to provide people across Canada with an accurate and deep intuitive understanding into the jurisdictional challenges facing cities and towns across Canada and propose new and innovative paths forward.
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.
Who's in Charge of the Pandemic?
Dealing with COVID-19 has been a challenge for every level of government. And, in a country where government jurisdictions are often clearly delineated, and defended, the pandemic response has required a certain level of federal, provincial, and municipal harmony. How have municipalities navigated these complex relationships in the midst of a global crisis?
Indigenous Cities
The Indigenous population in urban areas is growing fast. What are cities doing to provide for these populations, to build cities that reflect these communities, and to address the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission? Would greater autonomy for cities help achieve these goals? To find out, we speak to three Canadian mayors
Finances, Charters, and Constitutional Change
Governments love innovation. Though new ideas are great for cities, governments don’t think about the maintenance and upkeep costs these innovations require. So while city mayors sit at the kids table hoping the federal government will recognize their municipalities needs, they have to also be the grownups so these innovations become an enhancement rather than a burden to the bottom line.
