Transportation infrastructure in Canadian gateway cities
Lecture
Date: Thursday 15 June 2023
Time: 16.00 – 17.00
Location: Online via Zoom*
Jean-Michel Montsion, director of the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies (York University) will give an open lecture on transportation infrastructure in Canada.
Canada’s role in international distribution networks for the movement of goods and peoples require particular attention from the federal government in developing, expanding and maintaining transportation infrastructure across the country. This is especially the case for Canada’s gateway cities – or cities that are the first point of entry into Canada – such as Halifax, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. What are the connections between the decisions made at the federal level and local concerns? By looking at the various stakeholders involved in these discussions in all four locales, I explore the ways in which urban democracy processes are more than often bypassed for transportation infrastructure projects involving international trade considerations. While all four city-regions reveal a distinct political configuration integrating local actors and their concerns to transportation infrastructure projects, they all demonstrate that the Canadian federation is structured in a way that limit the utilisation of urban democracy processes for planning and implementing such transportation infrastructure projects. In this presentation, I will discuss the federal approach to transportation infrastructure projects, the ways in which they intersect with local concerns in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, and present some of the most glaring cases where urban democracy processes have been bypassed.
Suggested readings:
Canadian Global Cities Council. 2019. Infrastructure Policy Playbook.
*Free Admission (registration required) to register and have the Zoom link, contact ccs@su.se before the 15th of June (10.00 am, Stockholm time) |
Last updated: June 7, 2023
Source: Centre for Canadian Studies