Canada Archives – Decentralization Net

Municipal Finance in Canada: Reflections and Thoughts for the Future

February 3, 2025 Limabenla Jamir

“Budget bailout needed once again” could be a headline in a Toronto newspaper today. It is actually from the Toronto Star, December 8, 2004, around the time IMFG was founded. The story notes that Toronto’s budget […]

How does intergovernmental coordination strengthen local governance?

December 4, 2024 Marina Jandrevska

The crux of decentralization is that a multilevel public sector can produce better (more responsive and efficient) outcomes compared to a centralized public sector. An underlying–often unstated– assumption is that intergovernmental coordination mechanisms are in […]

The Forum of Federations Handbook of Fiscal Federalism

August 20, 2023 Marina Jandrevska

Fiscal federalism is a critical area of study as it underpins almost all other facets of subnational governance. The overriding issue in fiscal federalism is referred to as the assignment problem, that is, the assignment […]

Climate Governance and Federalism

May 28, 2023 LPS Alliance

Climate change poses one of the greatest challenges of our time, demanding urgent action and global cooperation. As nations grapple with the complexities of climate governance, the role of federal systems becomes a topic of […]

Local Government and the Changing Urban-Rural Interplay

March 29, 2023 LPS Alliance

What is the impact of increasing population movements from the countryside to cities and towns on the provision of local public services? How can urban and rural local governments cope? How do they finance these […]

Options for a Reform of the Mexican Intergovernmental Transfer System

October 4, 2022 LPSAManager

A recent study by Teresa Ter-Minassian and Andrés Muñoz Miranda published by the Inter-American Development Bank aims at providing an overview of international experiences with the design and reform of intergovernmental transfers, especially in large […]

Water federalism in Canada: working across government levels to support essential water infrastructure

July 20, 2021 LPS Initiative

The governments of Canada and Quebec are taking decisive action to meet the essential water infrastructure needs of local communities by working together across different government levels. The federal government, provincial government and municipal government […]

Intergovernmental Transfers in Federations

November 2, 2020 LPS Alliance

In a multi-level government system, the assignment of roles and responsibilities and institutional legacies between the federal and the subnational governments often create imbalances. A common challenges is a primary vertical fiscal imbalance, which is […]

Local governments in Canada: Building better lives together

January 12, 2020 LPS Alliance

Canada has three levels of government; federal, provincial and municipal. According to Section 92(8) of the Constitution Act, 1867, “In each Province the Legislature may exclusively make Laws in relation to… Municipal Institutions in the […]