OTTAWA: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) has responded to yesterday's significant announcement from Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Chris Hodgson that the government intends to overhaul the Municipal Act.
"The government has taken important steps to overhaul the Act which hasn't received substantive attention - such as the proposals unveiled yesterday - in over 150 years," stated CTF federal director. "The Minister and his officials should be commended for working in partnership with their municipal colleagues and other stakeholders for improving upon the draft framework first unveiled in 1998."
The proposed Act is slated to come into effect on January 1st, 2003.
"The CTF applauds, in principle, the government's recognition of the maturity of municipalities and its desire to give municipalities greater flexibility in service delivery and delineating those areas of shared jurisdiction including health, environment and public safety," added Robinson. "While strengthening municipalities and empowering them for the 21st century, the government has struck an appropriate counterbalance to this new power by simultaneously strengthening provisions mandating municipal transparency, clarifying the application of user fees, standardizing tendering practices, and expanding reporting activities to taxpayers."
"Urban regions - or city-states as they are increasingly called - are the engines of growth for our economy. They generate tax revenues for all levels of government, yet they have been constrained by an antiquated legislative framework," said Robinson.
"Yesterday's announcement is the first major step in unshackling the potential of our cities and towns. We look forward to reviewing the entire proposed Act and consequent regulations to ensure that the governments guiding principles are translated into workable and sustained municipal governance practices," Robinson concluded. "Citizens, taxpayers, businesses and local governments all stand to benefit from these proposed changes."
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