SPECIAL ISSUE
CONTENTS
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
    • Young Robert, McCarthy Kelly
    Why do municipal issues rise on the federal policy agenda in Canada?
    in Canadian Public Administration , Volume 52, Issue 3, September ,  2009 ,  347-370
    Under Prime Minister Paul Martin, the federal government developed a "cities and communities" agenda, with Ottawa prepared to be much more active about municipalities. The pendulum has swung back under the Harper government, which is far less inclined to intrude into this area of provincial jurisdiction. But these recent developments are not unique. The federal government was involved with the urban file in the 1970s through the Ministry of State for Urban Affairs, and there have been other historical instances of federal interest in municipalities. This article explores the factors that are associated with the place of municipalities and urban issues on the federal policy agenda. The time period covered is 1867–2005. The methodology is the one common to the agenda-setting literature: cross-correlation functions and lagged correlations. The authors think there may be three operative independent variables: rapid population growth in cities; restructuring of municipal systems by provincial governments; and financial stress. The analysis investigates the strength of each factor in placing urban issues on the national policy agenda. In the end, there is no single explanatory model to explain the rise of municipal issues on the agenda: history matters.
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