Local Government

The School of Public Administration has long recognized the importance of municipal governments. As the closest to the people of all levels of government, municipalities play a critical role in Canada's public sector. The School has engaged in a range of research projects related to municipal government.

Multi-level Governance and Public Policy in Canadian Municipalities

Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly is currently working as co-investigator with Robert Young, Canada Research Chair in Multilevel Governance at the University of Western Ontario, on a collaborative research project exploring multilevel governance and public policy in Canadian municipalities. The five-year (2003-2008) project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) is a collective effort involving 66 researchers at 26 Canadian universities and others from the United States, Belgium, South Africa and Germany. It will cover the six key policy areas of emergency planning, federal property, immigrant settlement, municipal image-building, infrastructure and urban Aboriginal policy in more than 100 cities and small municipalities across Canada.

For more information, visit the project website at: http://www.ppm-ppm.ca/summary.asp.

Len Traboulay Education Fund Grant

In May 2006, our Local Government Institute received a grant from the Len Traboulay Education Fund of the Municipal Finance Authority (MFA) to work with the Ministry of Community Services (MCS), the Local Government Management Association (LGMA), and the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) to organize a workshop on the role of elected officials and citizens in performance measurement policies. The workshop is scheduled to take place in conjunction with the LGMA Annual Conference in May 2007. The lead on this project will be shared by Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly and Jim McDavid.

Local Government Knowledge Partnership

The Local Government Institute (LGI) at the School of Public Administration entered a partnership in spring 2006 with the Ministry of Community Development (MCD) to develop an agenda for research on emerging government priorities in the context of the Community Charter for local and community governance in British Columbia. This agenda will aim to support the ministry's professional development, strategic learning, and recruitment needs while fostering engagement with other ministries and external stakeholders. The initiative is being led by a steering committee of MCD officials as well as faculty members Evert Lindquist, David Good and Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly.

The initial work plan focused on better regional performance. Following a call for expressions of interest in July 2006, MPA candidates Sam Broadbent, Ben Brunnen, Scott Coe and Scott Mathers prepared research papers on the following four topics. An introduction was provided by Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly

• Introduction: New Challenges for Local and Community Governance and Regional Economic Performance
• Economic Performance and Economic Regions in the New Economy: Foundations, Strategy and Governance - Brunnen
• Regions and Economic Development Policies: A Comparative Perspective - Coe
• Cooperation and Competition in Region-Building: The Role of Incentives - Broadbent
• Water Management and Local Government Institutions - Mathers

The research papers provided key input for a half-day workshop on regional economic performance that took place on November 17, 2006. In addition, another half-day event on local government in Canada and Australia, took place on November 16, 2006. Read more about the November 16th workshop.

A one-day workshop on the role of elected officials and citizens in the implementation of municipal performance measurement policies is planned for May 18, 2007. The workshop will take place in conjunction with the LGMA Annual Conference and is being supported by the Municipal Finance Authority's Len Traboulay Education Fund. For more information and program details, visit http://publicadmin.uvic.ca/lgpm/index.htm.

Local Government Institute Seminar Series

The Local Government Institute and the School of Public Administration jointly run a yearly seminar series to bring together professionals and representatives of the British Columbia local and provincial governments with faculty and graduate students from the UVIC campus. Seminars are held on the UVIC campus. Events usually take place on Fridays at 4:00 pm. Attendance is free but the number of seats is limited. Advance reservations are requested.

The Local Government Institute and the School of Public Administration would like to acknowledge CivicInfo BC's registration support for the seminar series.

Local Government Institute

Created in 1995, the Local Government Institute (LGI) is a group of University of Victoria faculty members in the School of Public Administration who are dedicated to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of local governments.

The Institute is dedicated to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of local governments, and assists local officials by identifying management practices and production alternatives that have resulted in improved service delivery to local governments in Canada. In addition, the Institute is a forum for exchanging ideas and improving understanding of political and economic issues for Canadian, American and European cities. It was originally sponsored by the The Donner Canadian Foundation, and continues with funding from grants and research contracts. LGI was one of the founding members of CivicInfo BC, public non-profit organization dedicated to creating and disseminating information products for local governments.

The Local Government Institute is co-directed by two of the leading local government scholars in Canada, Drs. Jim McDavid and Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly.

James McDavid, Co-Director

Dr. Jim McDavid (Ph.D Indiana, 1975) is Professor of Public Administration at the University of Victoria. He is a specialist in program evaluation and the production of local government services and has conducted extensive research focusing on local governments in the United States and Canada. His published Canadian research includes the only comparison of local government service production across Canada and has become the benchmark for comparisons of alternative production arrangements for local government services. His in-depth research with specific municipalities has resulted in significant improvements in the efficiency of their operations. He has published many articles on local government services including "Part-time Fire Fighters in Canadian Municipalities: Cost and Effectiveness Comparisons" (1986), "Effects of Scale and Market Structure on the Costs of Residential Solid Waste Collection in Canadian Cities" (1986), and "Police costs in Canadian Municipalities: An Empirical Analysis (1992). He also has authored or co-authored several books on local government including Applied Program Evaluation in Local Government (1979) and The Well-Performing Government Organization (1991). Dr. McDavid has also organized and presented workshops for public sector managers on service production, program evaluation, contract management, and other related topics. Dr. McDavid can be contacted at jmcdavid@uvic.ca or 250.472.4293.

Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly , Co-Director

Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly joined the School of Public Administration as an Assistant Professor in 2001. He is a political scientist, specializing in comparative and urban politics. He worked for the French public sector for 10 years. His government experience includes postings with the French Small Business Administration and the Nord Pas-de-Calais Regional Council government, France. Prior to his appointment at UVIC, Emmanuel was Assistant Director of the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, at the University of Notre Dame, IN. USA 2000/2001, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, 1999/2000. His research interests are: Local Government and Politics, Comparative Urban Politics, Cross Border Regions, Economic and Political Integration, West European Politics. Dr. Brunet-Jailly can be contacted at ebrunetj@uvic.ca or 250.721.8060.

Dr. Robert L. Bish

Dr. Robert L. Bish is Professor Emeritus and co-founder of the Local Government Institute, School of Public Administration, University of Victoria. Dr. Bish earned his Ph.D. in Economics from Indiana University in 1968 and served in departments or schools of economics, public affairs, public administration and urban studies at the universities of Washington, Southern California and Maryland before joining the School of Public Administration at the University of Victoria in 1981. Dr. Bish has researched, consulted and published on local and First Nation government in both the U. S. and Canada. His major works include The Public Economy of Metropolitan Areas (1971); Understanding Urban Government: Metropolitan Reform Reconsidered (1973) with Vincent Ostrom; Financing Government (1973) with Harold Groves; Urban Economics and Policy Analysis (1975) with Hugh O. Nourse; Local Government in the United States (1988) with Vincent and Elinor Ostrom, Indian Government: Its Meaning in Practice (1989) with Frank Cassidy and Local Government in British Columbia (1987, 1990, 1999). Dr. Bish was included as one of 19 Canadian economists in the 1983 edition of Whose Who in Economics and continues to be listed in subsequent editions. Dr. Bish continues to research and publish on local government and First Nation issues. Many of his reports are available on his website.