THE STRATEGIC-PLANNING COMPONENT IN THE POLICY-MAKING PROCESS FOR MUNICIPALITIES IN CANADA

Canadian municipalities are the products of precedent and the statute law of their respective provinces. Their nonpartisan politics have foc ussed on the servicing and enhancement of the interests, largely relat ed to property, of a long-dominant commercial elite. Contrary prioriti es have been subverted by provincial conditional grant programs and ot her administrative guidance. Even in the largest cities, the realities of fiscal austerity beginning in the 1980s encountered structures and practices unable to manage imaginatively under conditions of stress.