Comparison of Local Restructuring Models

The Ottawa-Carleton region with 11 municipalities and a regional government is being restructured by the special transition team for the transition to a mega-city on Jan 1, 2001. The new governance structure should meet the needs of the different communities, heritage and distinct subregions and also be efficient and effective.  The following table compares the characteristics of the Status Quo, the government's Mega City (Special adviser Mr. Shortliffe's ONE CITY-ONE TIER) model and the author's ONE CITY plus Five Divisions model.

Discussion: The Status-Quo has too many municipalities so it is somewhat inefficient and incomprehensible as the boundaries meander along backlanes, country roads and are inconsistent with the National Capital Region boundary. Furthermore, the municipalities are not distinct. It has also become expensive. For example, the cost of police service in Ottawa-Carleton has increased about 15% since the service was merged in 1995.   The Mega-City concept will result in an unwieldy and inefficient bureaucratic driven city and it ignores the natural boundaries and distinct heritage of the different regions. The recent variation on this with eight 'service boroughs' does not have a core city and the boundaries straddle neighbourhoods. Such service centres/community associations were not successful in Winnipeg or in Halifax. The Ottawa mega-city merger will also be expensive to implement with transition cost now estimated at $189 million and $100 million more than the origional estimate. The imposed restructuring for the Halifax-Bedford-Dartmouth region exceeded $26 million and was a disaster, while that for Toronto has cost $210 million and over 2000 positions. Toronto now faces a tax hike of 30%, mainly as a result of restructuring.  Furthermore, the newly formed six community councils in Toronto have no financial authority and hence the six former cities have lost their independence and the citizens have essentially lost the democratic right of choice for local services. A recent study(1) by Prof. Sancton indicates that there are no savings in such mergers and cost of government will undoubtedly go up following new union contracts to level disparities for the inside and outside workers. Hence it is unlikely that the anticipated $86 million annual savings will be realised.  Academic studies have also indicated the mega-city structures do not lead to a good governance system for multi-city regions.  Hence the government should proceed with a great deal of caution before implementing mega-city mergers.

The new merged city of Ottawa will have all the physical and financial assets and liabilities of the old municipalities more or less pooled. However some of the local assets may have to be sold to help defray the cost of restructuring as the Minister, Tony Clement, has recently indicate that a little over half ($108 million) of the cost will be paid by the Ontario Government.  Rather than have community councils or committees the individual ward councillors are responsible within their wards for such matters as parks, recreation, community services, cultural events, libraries, ice rink rentals, sidewalk and road maintenance, garbage collection, animal control, temporary road closures and appointments to community boards.  This is a new political structure in Canada and may result in 'ward serfdoms' with each councillor trying to get as much as possible for his/her ward.  Such a system could result in irrational and expensive facilities. There is also no structure for the councillors to work together for the larger community or a forum where citizens can raise concerns about local issues.  Furthermore, it is difficult to see how a council of 21 officials can effectively address many local issues as most of them will have a limited understanding of the local structure and hence how to properly address any concerns.  Hence there is limited accountability at the local level.  It will also be difficult for the citizens beyond the Greenbelt (~230,000) to physically get to council meetings as they will have to travel an hour or so just to get to the city hall at 111 Lisgar St.  This impediment further limits the democratic rights of the citizens. T he cost of restructuring will be high as many staff will have to be 'retired' to meet the objective of saving $86 million and the cost of new wage contracts will undoubtedly also be high so the net gain will be small, if any, as was the case in the restructuring in Toronto and Halifax.   

The ONE CITY plus Five Divisions model provides for logical and neat independent cities that are interlinked with a balanced council for the regional government and a staged and inexpensive restructuring program. The governance provides for boards to oversee the different services that consist of councillors from each division and a few outside experts. It is also accountable at both the local and regional levels of government and comprehensible as well as a good compromise of the Mega-City model. It is also inexpensive to implement and the anticipated cost saving have been realised in numerous other organisations. Clearly the ONE CITY plus Five Divisions model has numerous benefits and is the better concept for the very large Ottawa-Carleton region.   We suggest that council establish an ad hoc committee to compare the merits and costs of the new Ottawa mega-city with the ONE CITY plus Five Divisions model and explore options of the latter that could be implemented.  We must work towards a governance that is accountable at both the local and regional levels and for the delivery of services and one that also works closely with our counterparts across the Ottawa River and with the NCC .  

1 MERGER MANIA: the assault on local government, Andrew Sancton, Price-Patterson Ltd., Westmount, Quebec.

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