A very interesting study by Livio de Matteo is published by the Fraser Institute… here is his summary (and a link to the article)
Canada’s municipalities have increased their spending and employment over the last two decades while
maintaining that they are fiscally challenged. Notwithstanding the recent pandemic-induced fiscal
shocks, they typically run surpluses on their operating budgets while continuing to increase tax levies.
Understanding municipal finance is important given the centrality of services such as roads, water, police
and fire protection, and transit to Canadian families. At the same time, understanding municipal finances
is a challenging exercise given they are not very transparent and vary widely across municipalities.
