steveintoronto
Superstar
Just starting to dig on why Melbourne appears to 'have such a leg-up' on Toronto. I knew the State of Victoria was a huge part in promoting effective civic governance, but this is really eye-opening. If only in Ontario....?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_government_in_Victoria[...]
Local government has been referred to in the Victorian constitution since 1979 (sec. IIA), but it does not operate so as to make Victoria a federation or protect the borders or powers of local government from amendment by executive order or act of parliament. Today, the constitution recognises it "a distinct and essential tier of government" and prohibits a council being dismissed by executive order, but grants significant powers to the state parliament in respect of local government. The clauses have been amended many times by parliament, but since 2006 the Constitution Act has required a referendum to further alter them.
The current Local Government Act dates to 1989 and eliminated administrative distinctions between cities and shires, introduced the category of rural city and removed the possibility of declaring any further boroughs or towns (existing boroughs and towns were retained, although only one, the Borough of Queenscliffe, remains today, the other being abolished with the 1994 restructure). Five shires became rural cities but were dissolved with the 1994 restructure. [...]