Re: "The Ever-Expanding City" by Joe Berridge, June 2009.

Sancton, Andrew

Joe Berridge's review of my book, The Limits of Boundaries: Why City-Regions Cannot Be Self-Governing, is thoughtful and generous. Not surprisingly, he believes that I have overstated some of the problems in drawing boundaries. He suggests that the Golden task force in the 1990s recommended boundaries for Greater Toronto that were "good enough." In fact, the Golden report made no final recommendations about boundaries, stating instead that the matter should be referred to the proposed Greater Toronto Implementation Commission. The report's four-page, tortuous discussion of external boundaries is a perfect illustration of the general boundary problems that are the focus of my book.

Berridge claims that one of the reasons sprawl continued around Toronto in the 1990s and 2000s was "the absence of strong city-regional government" of the kind Golden recommended. But Golden explicitly recommended against the inclusion of southern Simcoe county and Orangeville in Greater Toronto, even though these areas "are in Greater Toronto's urban shadow and can expect increased urbanization." How could a "strong city-regional government" prevent sprawl in such places if they were not included within its boundaries? Berridge's suggestion that a new government for Greater Toronto could simply annex newly urbanizing areas is not serious. Such hypothetical annexation battles would make the Toronto megacity battles look inconsequential.

Unlike Alan Broadbent, Joe Berridge does not support creating a new province for the Toronto city-region (such proposals are to be put "in the attic"). Berridge wants a new level of elected city-region government (covering at least five million people, depending on the boundaries) to be inserted between Mayor David Miller's Toronto (2.5 million) and Premier Dalton McGuinty's Ontario (12 million). Such a new government would mediate between "the gritty sand of localism and the heavy hand of top-down authority." To further mix the metaphor, it looks to me like multitier political gridlock.

Berridge favours "regional government" of the kind found in London, Vancouver, Hamburg, Madrid and New York City. In my book, I discuss the serious problems with most of these examples. I explain why the Madrid model cannot be duplicated in other city-regions.

Metro Vancouver's system is indeed exemplary. But it was rejected by the Golden task force as "both inappropriate for our governance needs and inconsistent with our political culture." Since then the megacity was created, foreclosing this and other options for institutionalized inter-municipal cooperation.

My book does not suggest that the "cities movement" is over. It is aimed at convincing its supporters to recognize that our provinces are already becoming the strategic decision makers for our city-regions. There is much else for the cities movement to focus on. Searching for city-region self-governance is a pointless diversion.

Andrew Sancton

London, Ontario