National Post ePaper

Cities need more power — especially Montreal

ALLISON HANES

The morning after urban voters in Montreal and other big cities helped elect another Liberal minority government, mayoral candidates in Canada's second-largest metropolis resumed their own stumping, with high hopes for a sympathetic ear in Ottawa.

Valérie Plante, the incumbent mayor and leader of Projet Montréal, said she looked forward to working with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on priorities like gun control, climate change and a post-pandemic economic reboot.

But her rivals are also asking the federal government for long-term structural changes to Montreal's skewed relationship with the province.

Ensemble Montréal leader and former mayor Denis Coderre wants Ottawa to transfer half a percentage of the goods and services tax, which he says would add about $200 million a year to the city's coffers. During his tenure, Coderre negotiated new powers for Montreal from the Quebec government, but not new revenue-generating tools.

Montreal thus remains dependent on property taxes for about 67 per cent of its budget.

Balarama Holness, the leader of Movement Montreal, wants to go even further. He is asking the federal government to recognize Montreal as a “city state,” with greater autonomy over immigration, housing, social services and education (and presumably the funding to match). Since cities are currently considered “creatures of the province,” this would require a significant constitutional change.

Coderre's plan is more pragmatic. It's a recognition that cities are hamstrung by their lack of financial resources and too often have to go cap in hand to higher levels of government when they need to fund major infrastructure projects like public transit or during emergencies, like the pandemic.

Back when he was mayor, he brokered the so-called “Montreal reflex,” a pledge that the province would consider the city's interests in making decisions affecting it. Despite the goodwill, it has proved to be more symbolic than effective. Quebec has ignored this clause when it has suited its purposes.

For this reason, Holness's idea of getting the federal government to boost Montreal's status is timely and justified. Indeed, it should be considered for all major cities, which time and again face benign neglect or capricious treatment by their provincial masters.

From Ontario Premier Doug Ford's whim to cut the size of Toronto city council in half in 2018 during a municipal election campaign, to the “downloading ” of provincial services onto Ontario municipalities by the Harris government in the 1990s, municipalities are left reeling by such decisions.

In Montreal, the “one island, one city” merger of two decades ago, which was partially undone a few years later via demergers, was equally destabilizing.

Perhaps there were good reasons for keeping cities subservient to the provinces in the 1800s, when this setup began. Perhaps it was one way to ensure voters in far-flung regions got fair representation. But now it seems like the opposite is true. When provincial governments get voted in with primarily rural and suburban support, cities often suffer from a disconnect in priorities.

Quebec's Bill 21, which restricts religious dress among authority figures such as teachers and prosecutors, disproportionately affects Montreal, where a third of the population is from diverse backgrounds.

Likewise Bill 96, Quebec's new language legislation, would have a greater impact in Montreal, where the bulk of anglophones and allophones live.

Keeping cities on a tight leash is not only outdated, it's undignified. The numbers certainly don't warrant it.

About two million people call Montreal home, or almost a quarter of the Quebec population; 4.2 million people live in the Greater Montreal region, or nearly half of the entire province.

According to Montréal International, the gross domestic product of the metropolitan area was $181.6 billion in 2018 (pre-pandemic boom times, to be sure). That's roughly half Quebec's GDP of $368 billion that same year.

The hitch to empowering cities, of course, is that the provinces are sure to object to the downgrading of their own place in the pecking order. This makes it a politically treacherous gambit, especially for a minority government. And it would certainly be seen as a new incursion on provincial jurisdiction by Premier François Legault.

For these reasons, Holness's proposal seems as unlikely to gain traction as it is worthy of consideration.

Trudeau's power base is in urban areas. Montreal and Toronto were instrumental in helping him eke out his second minority Monday night. Perhaps he owes these urban voters the means to ensure their cities can reach their full potential without all the meddling from above. And perhaps it would be a way to counter the growing weight of provinces bent on going their own way within the Canadian federation.

FRONT PAGE

en-ca

2021-09-22T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-09-22T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://nationalpost.pressreader.com/article/281517934262836

Postmedia