Building prosperity from the ground up : Restoring municipal fiscal balance

That leaves just 8 cents of every Fiscal Imbalance of the Council of the Federation by tax dollar collected in Canada for municipal governments identifying the nature of the municipal component of this to meet growing and varied responsibilities. [...] Also discussed is the key role played by required to do by law in any event, than with the adequa- Canada’s cities and communities in building prosperity cy of the services that are being provided and the current and quality of life, as well the fiscal context in which state of municipal infrastructure.” they operate. [...] Slack points out in her conclusion: “The undertak- Chapter 2, Making the Case, summarizes the data and ing of any analysis on fiscal imbalance and on the analysis contained in four commissioned studies to options for reducing it requires the collection of informa- make the case that Canada’s municipal governments are tion on the revenues and expenditures of individual in a situation of structural [...] Municipal governments, already struggling in the face There is, of course, another compelling reason to of shrinking resources and growing responsibilities, maintain and improve the quality of life in our cities have neither the means nor the jurisdiction to respond and communities: they are where Canadians live, and to these challenges alone. [...] Updated provincial and • Shortly after the Government of Canada announced territorial municipal legislation, new funding, improved the “New Deal for Cities and Communities,” the intergovernmental coordination and innovative program Government of the Northwest Territories and the ter- delivery are all part of the municipal success story.