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"How big should city governments be? Two mayors respond" by David Rusk and John Sewell To discuss the question of how large city governments should be, the editor of Policy Options talked by telephone with David Rusk and John Sewell, who have both experienced what it is like to be mayor of a growing municipality. David Rusk was mayor of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and John Sewell, mayor of Toronto. Mr. Rusk is well-known for his concept of the “elastic city,” which grows to encompass its region. Mr. Sewell has been an active critic of Toronto’s mega-city merger. William Watson talked to them in July. An edited transcript of their conversation follows. "How big should city governments be? Two academics respond" by Fernand Martin and Andrew Sancton Fernand Martin is Professor of Economics at the Université de Montreal and a specialist in regional economics. Earlier this year the transition team that is overseeing the legislated amalgamation of the municipal jurisdictions on the island of Montreal asked him to report on the budgetary effects of Toronto’s amalgamation into a “mega-city.” His report can be read at www.transitionmontreal.org/upload/en~doc_etude_martin_1998.pdf. Andrew Sancton is Professor of Political Science at the University of Western Ontario and specializes in urban politics and government. Earlier this year, McGill-Queen’s University Press published his Merger Mania, a monograph on Canada’s recent experience with forced municipal mergers that was commissioned by the City of Westmount. Policy Options’ editor William Watson talked to them by telephone in mid-July. Here is an edited transcript of their conversation. "Party democracy increases the leader's power" by Thomas M.J. Bateman The Canadian Alliance’s leadership difficulties make clear that highly “democratic” internal party procedures do not necessarily smooth the course of democratic politics in the country at large. In fact, by reducing the power of parliamentary caucuses, the trend toward choosing party leaders by simple vote of all of a party’s members has increased the power of party leaders. Caucuses that wish to act are now driven to extraordinary, party-threatening measures. We should reconsider the changes we have made. "Les défis de la relève dans le secteur des technologies de l'information et des communications" by François Nicolas Pelletier and Jeremy Leonard Canada is facing a crisis in university disciplines feeding the information and communication technologies (ICT) sector. Applications to undergraduate electrical engineering and computer engineering programs are so numerous that academically qualified students are too often turned away for lack of resources. At the graduate level, the number of degrees granted has fallen in recent years, reducing the number of potential university professors and complicating the challenge of meeting growing undergraduate demand. Federal and provincial governments, industry, and universities themselves must take steps to shore up the finances of ICT-related university disciplines to assure the necessary highly qualified personnel to drive future innovation in Canada’s ICT industry. "The crisis in public-sector bargaining in Saskatchewan" by Dan Cameron Saskatchewan’s current public-sector labour relations crisis will only be resolved when the province finds a more collaborative approach to collective bargaining. Managers, employees and union representatives all need to participate in decisions about how best to provide public services. The change from traditional top-down management practices won't come easily, however. It will be necessary to make clear to union and management that if public-sector collective bargaining cannot be made to work effectively, changes may occur that are adverse to the interests of the parties involved. "E-export finance is no dot-com wonder but wonder what EDC will make of it?" by David Clarke Canadian exporters will soon have easy online access to a vastly wider array of financing alternatives. For Export Development Corporation, that means its traditional mandate is no longer relevant. A new mandate might focus on facilitating the e-commerce competitiveness of Canadian companies in the developed world, while whetting their appetite for more risky opportunities in the developing one. "Why public accountability statements just for the banks?" by Peter Downing New federal legislation requires the country’s major financial institutions to provide annual “public accountability statements” in which they describe their effect on Canada’s economic and social life. Any firm that receives more than $1 million in a year from federal assistance of any kind should be required to provide the same kind of report. This public policy would be as much about keeping Canadian businesses competitive in Canada, the United States, the European Union and Pacific Rim countries, as it would be about increasing corporate accountability. "Flanagan vs. Cairns on Aboriginal policy" Inroads exchange between Alan Cairns and Tom Flanagan In this year’s edition of Inroads, the annual magazine of politics and policy, two of the country’s bestknown non-native thinkers on matters of Aboriginal policy, Tom Flanagan and Alan Cairns, exchanged letters on each other’s latest books, Cairns’ Citizens Plus and Flanagan’s First Nations? Second Thoughts. By kind permission of both the letter-writers and the editors of Inroads, we reproduce this important and revealing exchange here. Book review: Andrew Parkin reviews Loyal No More: Ontario's struggle for a separate identity by John Ibbitson [summary not available] "Losing our tongues" by Kristian Gravenor [summary not available] |
