About Us

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A topic of much interest, confusion, bedevilment and frustration in Canadian politics, given its fundamental influence over who does what and therefore who is responsible for what policy failures, is federalism. Federalism is a fundamental aspect of Canadian politics: it’s the reason we have provinces instead of a unitary government. But when you decide to split your government into different levels and different units, you also face the decision to split up their responsibilities. Who controls what, who pays for what, who is ultimately accountable for what?

All that can be a little time-consuming to navigate! Don’t worry, GLOCAL’s got you covered. We’ve prepared this primer for you to make learning about federalism as easy as possible.

This research project provides a comprehensive and accessible overview of local governance, written for a general audience. It examines the state of play in the “third order” of government in Canada, and provides a mapping of different systems of local governance, drawing to the extent possible from primary sources. The report describes the governance of incorporated municipalities as well as the patchwork quilt of governance systems in unincorporated communities. It takes a historical and comparative perspective on municipal incorporation and systems across the thirteen provinces and territories, including the election of municipal representatives. Further, the report compares these systems with the Indigenous governing structures, which may have a local focus but are not municipal governments as such.