Come Clean: Taking a look at how far the provincial hand is in the municipal pocket

Exactly how far is the provincial hand in the municipal pocket?

We often hear that local governments in Canada get just 9 cents of every tax dollar.   But how much of that is even a council’s to spend? One study found that just 9% of a municipality’s annual operating spend flowed from council decisions.*

How local is your local government’s budget?

Emily Harris is the Director of the policy shop, specialized in building the policy and revenue capacity for self-directed municipalities and self-determining communities. She can be reached at emily@thepolicyshop.ca.