CITB04H3 Lecture 6: Lecture 6
CITB04-Lecture 6: Municipal Politics, Councils and Elections
1. City Power and Intergovernmental relationships
2. Guest Speaker: Tobias N
3. The Civil Service
a. How do we know if the service is structured the correct way
Open Federalism/Multi-level governance:
- A process, not a structure
- Reflects the reality of services and policies
oMany issues that are confronted at the municipal level also relate to higher levels
- Offers an alternative to the strict, unbending federalism model in the Constitution
- The concept of multilevel governance; how the city gets its power in terms of setting its agenda
and decision making
Cats and Beavers:
- How to look at what municipalities do
- Theoretical framework for city powers
- Municipalities do not all have the same powers
- Weak end of the beaver spectrum: does not have much power, but uses what it has in a
wholesome way (municipality may be prescribed a certain set of rules, but stand tall even if it is
not allowed to do something against legislation
- Cat: may be strong, but does not use its power efficiently and effectively
- What powers the city has and how it is used
a.4 sets of principles of assessing public theory:
A. Efficiency: The New Public Management Theory:
- Key features:
oDistinguishes between the policy and service delivery roles of government
oFocus on efficiency and coordination in the delivery of services
oEstablishing performance standards for staff
oNotion of the citizen as a consumer
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- How do you measure the efficiency of staff or government?
- Is a citizen a consumer or owner?
B. Standards: The Public Service Bylaw
- In June 2014, City Council adopted a Toronto Public Service By-law to strengthen the separation
between the administrative and political parts of Toronto’s government
- Toronto is the first Canadian city to have a Public Service By-law
- It advances Toronto’s public service as “professional, impartial, and ethical”
- Put in place standards on how the civil service should be run, and then can be compared to see
if it is being run “correctly”
-
- The Public Service By-law applies to members of the public service, which includes City of
Toronto employees, and some Agency & Board employees
- Members of City Council and their staff are not members of the public service
C. Accountability: Reviewing Staff Decisions
- Having an Ombudson assess what the staff do
D. Community Values:
- Apply principles and how you would look at the civil services based on the theoretical
perspectives
- Municipalities should engage their citizens and residents as much as possible
- Recognition that staff are an important part of city decision-making
- Engagement between public and staff is key
- Catherine Porter article:
oMake alliances with other community groups
oStart high in the bureaucratic “food chain”
oFollow up as much as you need to
Today’s Class:
Why do we care how political decisions are made in cities? :
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find more resources at oneclass.com
- Public Transit:
oKey issue in the upcoming election
oWill be elected based on opinions on transit
- Social and affordable housing
oBattling what their strategies will be
oMatter to neighbourhoods on a political levels
oHaving a system on what neighbourhoods and communities think
- Poverty:
oToronto City Council approved the city's first poverty reduction strategy in 2015
o Toronto remains Canada's "child poverty capital," with 133,000 children living in
poverty
oWe are a city are failing when it comes to child poverty
oNeed to have a system as to what a municipality can do to address the issue
- Fundamentally, we want to know what kind of system allows for effective decision-making
Dysfunctional City Hall
- Many hits fam
City Hall concerns:
- Lack of mayoral power
o1 of 45 votes on city council
oHurting “cats”
oto implement their vision, they do not a singular budget to do so
oit has evolved in this way and it should not be this model that should be followed to
make efficient issues
- Hard to apply accountability rules
oThere are gaps with regards to what is fair
- Civil servants
oUnduly influence by politicians
oNot totally separate, there is a dotted line between them
oThis is a fucking problem
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
