Canadian Approach to Municipal Consolidation Article Critique

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24). If what Lightbody states is the case, then it appears that those opposed to the integration have no say so in how the government is run. Since the country is not a democracy, but yet a constitutional monarchy these types of decisions and actions can be expected.

Lightbody argues that restructuring process in Canada is often quick and not without drama. This may seem like an unlikely approach given that there is usually so much opposition to change within the municipalities, but he states that the opposition usually adapts very quickly to these changes because they begin to see them as improvements upon the old system (p. 25). One of the reasons for opposition is that many people naturally resist change because they are comfortable with the status quo. Those individuals who think outside of the box can take a step back and see what is working and what isn't working and are not afraid of change. This is good because without change there can be no growth or forward movement whatsoever. In the case of restructuring Toronto and Montreal, it was a matter of forward thinking and vision.

What Lightbody says he has observed from these restructurings is citizens may oppose it in the beginning but are usually quick to accept it once it transpires. His proof of this statement is a poll which revealed that seventy percent of the citizens of Toronto were satisfied with the restructuring and with a second poll, sixty-six percent of the citizens felt that the restructuring was successful (26). The restructuring probably should have been done long before it was instead of waiting for everything to go haywire and practically being forced to integrate. Canadian government should take a look at previous restructurings of comparable city-regions and take note of what they did in order to have a functionally capable government.

Lightbody presents us with what he says are the reasons why Toronto and Montreal eventually came to the point where they had to make a change regarding the municipal government.

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There were many issues that the government was dealing with, yet there were not being dealt with in the best manner possible and the author does a decent job of pointing out these issues. One of the main issues is the fact that many of these cities wait until the current processes are seen to be gravely wrong and ineffective before a change is made. They appear to not attempt to make any type of changes until they hit rock bottom. Such things as income inequities and class separation should not be allowed to get so far out of hand until drastic measures need to be taken to bring the community back into balance.

What the city-regions should do is constantly monitor the policies to determine if they are in fact working. People in governmental positions should also be made accountable when things have gone wrong and nothing has been done along the way to turn around the process. Change will always bring about opposition, but as Lightbody noted the Canadian citizens usually oppose the changes in the beginning stages and adapt quite nicely once the change is made. The reason for the opposition in the beginning is that problems within the government are left to fester for so long before anything is done that people generally get used to the status quo and begin to fear change.

Those in charge must have a keen sense of when change is needed at the very beginning and start the process to effect a change immediately. Citizens should be informed every step of the way and opposition, as always should be expected. but, if the process of change is done in the early stages, the government officials will probably run into less opposition than they would normally expect......

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