Charles Conteh, an associate professor of public policy and management in Brock’s Department of Political Science, wrote a piece recently published in the St. Catharines Standard about opportunities that exist in the wake of waves of change in governance.
Conteh writes:
Much has been said about the tidal waves of economic, social and environmental challenges sweeping across cities and regions of Canada and much of the post-industrial world.
But it is worth noting that on the other side of these waves of change are exciting prospects and opportunities over the next couple of decades. With every crisis comes an opportunity for self-reinvention and positive adaptation.
A quick overview of some of these challenges is in order. Yes, the quintessential headaches of providing hard and soft services such as public transit, policing, public health programs, social housing, child care, social assistance, water and sewage works are well known. Municipalities and regions have sadly become quite familiar with these challenges, even if they often feel like they are sitting under the sword of Damocles in trying to balance costs with ever increasing demands for state-of-the-art services.
No doubt, a vexing wrinkle in all of this is the undeniable fact that local revenue sources are shrinking and financial support from the federal and provincial governments is insufficient to confront the challenges. It is also no secret that over the past two decades, the federal government cheerfully joined the provinces in downloading services onto municipalities without the corresponding financial support from these upper levels of government. For instance, regions across Ontario now carry the responsibility dealing with immigration, Indigenous relations, housing and the like. A depressing example of this is the fact that in the age of breakneck climate change, municipalities must contend with the growing costs of emergency preparedness to deal with the challenges of severe weather-related disasters.
Continue reading the full article here.
