OPINION: Municipalities – The Third Level of Government
Posted March 18, 2010 10:10 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Courtesy TheMarkNews.com
Canada’s Constitution makes reference to municipal institutions, but only so far as to group them, together with other “local” matters, under the exclusive jurisdiction of provincial legislatures. That does not make them any less a form of government though. In fact, the actions of municipalities often have a far more direct and noticeable impact on the lives of citizens than those of the two “senior” levels of government.
A “municipality” is defined in Ontario’s Municipal Act as “a geographic area whose inhabitants are incorporated.” This involves the creation of two bodies, the municipal corporation, which is the legal entity, and the council, which functions somewhat like a board of directors of a business corporation, except that councils generally act through the creation of bylaws, either those specific to a particular subject, such as a licensing or a sign bylaw, or those passed at the end of each meeting, confirming each of the decisions made by the council throughout the discussion.
At one time, municipalities were thought of as unimportant “creatures” of the province, with specific and limited powers. In recent years, however, through the enactment of statutes authorizing broad municipal powers and certain decisions by the courts, municipalities are being recognized as governments in their own right more and more. They now have the authority to provide any service or thing that the council considers necessary or desirable for the public, and to pass bylaws to improve the economic, social, and environmental well-being of the municipality and its citizens.
The Ontario legislature has made its intent clear by mandating that municipal powers are to be interpreted “so as to confer broad authority on the municipality to enable [it] to govern its affairs as it considers appropriate and to enhance the municipality’s ability to respond to municipal issues.”
Municipal jurisdiction now extends to regulatory and legislative powers, including business licensing, municipal roads and highways, signs, economic development services, health, safety and nuisance, and the protection of the natural environment. Councils also receive powers from statutes other than the Municipal Act, such as the Planning Act (zoning and other by-laws affecting the use of land) and the Ontario Heritage Act (the protection of heritage properties and conservation districts).
There are still, of course, some restrictions on municipal powers. For instance, since municipalities are created by provincial legislation, their constitutional jurisdiction can be no higher than the provincial legislature itself. So a municipal council cannot pass a bylaw prohibiting prostitution on the city’s streets on grounds of morality, since that would involve purported criminal jurisdiction, which the province itself does not have. Similarly, municipalities cannot pass bylaws governing matters of aeronautics or shipping and navigation, although, in the absence of a conflict, their bylaws may well have an impact on such activities.
Generally, however, with the expansive approach to municipal government demonstrated across the country, and the conferring on municipal corporations of the powers of a natural person for the purpose of achieving its objectives, municipalities have come a long way, and may finally be said to have achieved a level of true self-government.
The Mark News is Canada’s forum for opinion and analysis.
