Abstract
This chapter makes some initial observations about municipally owned corporations (MOCs) in Canada. The use of MOCs is mainly confined to a subset of 12 local services and there is considerable variation in their use among municipalities. Provincial requirements and path dependency can explain a lot of the reasons for their existence. The largest municipalities tend to employ more MOCs; however, even among this group, the use of purely discretionary MOCs is limited. The relationship between MOCs and their municipalities is often structured through a combination of provincial legislation and municipal by-laws. As long as MOCs abide by their mandate, they can expect to operate mostly free of undue political interference. Municipal politicians are common features on the boards of MOCs, but administrators are appointed based on merit rather than patronage. In short, both provincial and municipal governments in Canada find MOCs to be a useful way to deliver a sub-set of local services. Apart from certain functional areas like economic development and tourism, the use of MOCs in Canada is not a new innovation. It would, therefore, be difficult to place Canada among the list of other jurisdictions seeing a marked increase in their usage.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
Some provincial governments have more than one Act respecting different aspects of municipal activities, such as a general Municipal Act as well as others governing municipal elections, municipal finance or municipal law. For more information on the Canadian municipal system, see Sancton (2021).
- 2.
In this chapter, we are focusing only on municipalities in Canada’s provinces. We are excluding Canada’s North, which consists of the territories of Nunavut, Northwest Territories, and Yukon Territory. The territories are geographically vast but sparsely populated and do not have the same degree of constitutional authority as provincial governments. Only a small percentage of the land in the territories is organised municipally. Municipalities in Canada’s North tend to have very small populations and are separated from each other by large geographical distances.
- 3.
As of September 2021, the Calgary Parking Authority will be integrated into the municipal structure such that it may no longer qualify as a Type 2 MOC moving forward (The City of Calgary Newsroom 2021).
- 4.
See for example Municipal Act, 2001, s. 4 regarding the term of the appointment for board members, or s. 23.2, which provides some restrictions on which powers municipal councils can delegate.
- 5.
Similar legislative provisions also establish Boards of Health, Planning Boards, Police Services Boards and Public Libraries Act as “bodies corporate”.
- 6.
Electricity generation is primarily a provincial function in Ontario, but significant portions of electricity transmission are performed by local distribution companies (LDCs), which are often owned by local municipalities.
References
Anderson, C. (2010). Regional heterogeneity and policy preferences in Canada: 1979-2006. Regional and Federal Studies, 20(4–5), 447–468.
Bherer, L., & Hamel, P. (2012). Overcoming adversity, or public action in the face of new urban problems: The example of Montreal. In M. Horak & R. Young (Eds.), Sites of governance: Multilevel governance and policy making in Canada’s big cities. McGill-Queen’s University Press.
City of Hamilton. (2021). Tourism development profile. Accessed August 23, 2021, from https://www.hamilton.ca/government-information/trust-and-confidence-report/tourism-development-profile
City of Mississauga. (2020). Tourism Mississauga announces new board of directors. Accessed August 23, 2021, from https://www.mississauga.ca/city-of-mississauga-news/news/tourism-mississauga-announces-new-board-of-directors/
City of Toronto. (2018a). Revised shareholder direction – Build Toronto. Accessed August 23, 2021, from https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2017/ex/bgrd/backgroundfile-109169.pdf
City of Toronto. (2018b). Revised shareholder direction – Toronto Port Lands Company. Accessed August 23, 2021, from https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2017/ex/bgrd/backgroundfile-109170.pdf
City of Vaughan. (2019). Report no. 1 of the Finance, Administration and Audit Committee. Accessed July 27, 2021, from https://pub-vaughan.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=9524
City of Winnipeg. (n.d.). About the Winnipeg police board. Accessed July 27, 2021, from https://winnipeg.ca/clerks/boards/WpgPoliceBoard/aboutpoliceboard.stm
ENWIN. (n.d.). Welcome to ENWIN. Accessed August 20, 2021, from https://enwin.com/about/
Explore Waterloo Region. (n.d.). About explore Waterloo region. Accessed August 23, 2021, from https://explorewaterloo.ca/about-ewr/
Government of Canada. (2021, June 28). Federal corporation information – 330976-2. Accessed August 23, 2021, from https://www.ic.gc.ca/app/scr/cc/CorporationsCanada/fdrlCrpDtls.html?corpId=3309762&V_TOKEN=null&crpNm=Tourism%20London&crpNmbr=&bsNmbr=
Horak, M., & Taylor, Z. (2021). Canadian municipal attributes portal (C-MAP). Working documentation for on-line database of local government institutions in selected Canadian cities.
KPMG. (2018). Financial statements of economic development. Winnipeg Inc. Accessed August 20, 2021, from https://www.economicdevelopmentwinnipeg.com/uploads/document/2018_12_31_economic_development_winnipeg_fs.t1556030735.pdf
Lucas, J. (2016). Fields of authority: Special purpose governance in Ontario, 1815-2015. University of Toronto Press.
Lucas, J., & Smith, A. (2019). Which policy issues matter in Canadian municipalities? A survey of municipal politicians. University of Calgary SPP Research Paper, 12(8), 1–25.
Lyons, J. (2021). The democratic dimensions of specialized governments. In C. Anderson & L. Stephenson (Eds.), What is democracy and how do we study it? (pp. 145–166). University of Toronto Press.
Mackinnon, B. J. (2020, July 6). Head of public library service resigns after controversy over qualifications. CBC News. Accessed August 24, 2021, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/kevin-cormier-new-brunswick-library-executive-director-trevor-holder-1.5639313
Pagliaro, J. (2016, January 26). Mayor’s task force recommends shakeup at Toronto Community Housing. Toronto Star. Accessed August 24, 2021, from https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2016/01/26/mayors-task-force-recommends-shakeup-at-toronto-community-housing.html
Sancton, A. (2021). Canadian local government: An urban perspective (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
Statistics Canada. (2017a). Census in brief: Municipalities in Canada with the largest and fastest-growing populations between 2011 and 2016. Accessed August 20, 2021, from https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/as-sa/98-200-x/2016001/98-200-x2016001-eng.cfm
Statistics Canada. (2017b). Population and dwelling count highlight tables, 2016 Census. Accessed August 20, 2021, from https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/hlt-fst/pd-pl/Table.cfm?Lang=Eng&T=301&S=3&O=D
Taylor, Z., & Dobson, A. (2020). Power and purpose: Canadian municipal law in transition. IMFG Papers on Municipal Finance and Governance, No. 47. Institute of Municipal Finance and Governance. Accessed August 24, 2021, from https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/99780/1/IMFG_Paper_No47_Power_and_Purpose_Taylor_Dobson.pdf
The City of Calgary Newsroom. (2021, September 16). The City of Calgary welcomes the Calgary Parking Authority (CPA) into our organization. Accessed September 22, 2021, from https://newsroom.calgary.ca/the-city-of-calgary-welcomes-the-calgary-parking-authority-cpa-into-our-organization/
Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island. (n.d.). About us. Accessed August 23, 2021, from https://visitwindsoressex.com/about-us/
Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation. (2018). Vanplay: Imagine parks and recreation. Accessed August 24, 2021, from https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/vanplay-report-2-goals-to-shape-the-next-25-years.pdf
Van Genugten, M., Van Thiel, S., & Voorn, B. (2020). Local governments and their arm’s length bodies. Local Government Studies, 46(1), 1–21.
Voorn, B., Van Genugten, M., & Van Thiel, S. (2017). The efficiency and effectiveness of municipally owned corporations: A systematic review. Local Government Studies, 43(5), 820–841.
Windsor Utilities Commission. (n.d.). Welcome to WUC. Accessed August 20, 2021, from https://enwin.com/wuc-corporate-information/
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Andrew Sancton and Sandra Breux for their assistance with identifying MOCs for Montreal, Quebec. We retain responsibility for any errors or omissions.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lyons, J., Spicer, Z., Taylor, D. (2023). Municipally Owned Corporations in Canada. In: Van Genugten, M., Voorn, B., Andrews, R., Papenfuß, U., Torsteinsen, H. (eds) Corporatisation in Local Government. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09982-3_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09982-3_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-09981-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-09982-3
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)