CWF Releases New Big City/Provincial Partnership Blueprint

The rise of the information economy, coupled with expanded global trade and increased international economic competition, has vaulted big cities to a level of importance that renders archaic the intergovernmental debates of the past. Recent discussions of the “urban agenda” further highlight the need to shift the conventional intergovernmental focus of Canadian politics from federal-provincial relations to provincial-municipal relations. The Canada West Foundation has released “Rationale for Renewal: The Imperatives Behind a New Big City-Provincial Partnership” which begins this exploration by outlining the basic principles that ought to guide a renewed relationship between big cities and their provincial governments. The study goes on to set out the detailed rationale behind these principles and the reasons for re-working the current relationship into a true partnership. This exploration takes place within the context of the West’s six big cities – Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Saskatoon, and Winnipeg.

The author of the paper is Casey Vander Ploeg, a Senior Policy Analyst at the Canada West Foundation who is working primarily on the Urban Finance Initiative, part of the Western Cities Project.

Link to the study at RATIONALE+FOR+RENEWAL.pdf