In a new report 'Who's Picking Up the Tab?' the Columbia Institute suggests federal and provincial balancing of budgets puts more strain on municipal local governments who face inceasing challenges in providing services.
Photo Credit: Columbia Institute

Local governments face major financial strain as federal/provincial funding drops

As the Canadian and provincial governments balance their budgets local municipal governments are weighed down by increased costs as more people move to urban areas of the country says a new report by the public policy think tank the Columbia Institute.

In its report “Who’s Picking Up the Tab?” the Institute points out that such issues as mental illness, homelessness, and new drinking water regulations are falling to local governments to deal with because of increasing populations, or becaue the federal and provincial governments change regulations, but do not provide funding to implement those changes.

RCI’s Wojtek Gwiazda spoke to Charley Beresford, the Executive Director of the Columbia Institute about the report and its conclusions. The report deals with the situation in the Pacific coast province of British Columbia, but the Institute feels the findings are applicable to other provinces as well.

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More information:
Columbia Institute – “Who’s Picking Up the Tab? Federal and Provincial Downloading Onto Local Governments” – here

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