Local and Urban Politics

E04 - Municipal Economic Development and Adaptation

Date: Jun 3 | Time: 01:45pm to 03:15pm | Location:

Chair/Président/Présidente : Ronald Vogel (Toronto Metropolitan University)

Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Ronald Vogel (Toronto Metropolitan University)

Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Marc-André Pigeon (University of Saskatchewan)

City of Montréal 5G pilot-project: limits of municipal action and leadership.: Jérémy Diaz (INRS), Sandra Breux (INRS), Marie-Soleil Cloutier (INRS)
Abstract: The deployment of 5G networks is leading to an unprecedented densification of antennas and equipment. This raises concerns among municipalities, torn between the desire to improve connectivity for their residents and the need to preserve the aesthetics and harmony of the urban landscape. Yet the literature underscores the need for municipalities to prepare for these challenges. As managers of public space, they must respond to requests to install 5G equipment on the public right-of-way. The literature also suggests that some municipalities could better defend their interests and those of their residents if they adequately prepared for the deployment of telephony networks by proactively collaborating with telecommunications companies. In this context, in 2020, after two years of preparation, the city of Montreal set up a 5G pilot project, thanks to the approval of agreements with five telecom companies to oversee the deployment of small 5G antennas (or micro-cells) on the city's street furniture (traffic lights), in a 4.1 km² area in downtown Montreal. Based on a literature review and responses to a questionnaire sent to 4 City of Montreal departments, our aim is to look in detail at the strengths and limitations of this pilot project. More specifically, we show that the spin-offs of this pilot project reveal the limits of municipal action in setting up a 5G telephony network, even when it adopts the best practices identified in the research. However, the City of Montreal's leadership has led to a number of innovations in knowledge production.

La gouvernance urbaine saisie par le micro-local : les sociétés de développement économiques comme acteurs clé ?: Anne Mevellec (Université d'Ottawa), Guy Chiasson (Université du Québec en Outaouais)
Abstract: Nous présentons les résultats d’une recherche qualitative portant sur l’expérience des sociétés de développement commercial (SDC) québécoises, largement restées sous le radar de la recherche. Les SDC sont, avec certaines nuances, l’équivalent de ce que l’on qualifie ailleurs en Amérique du Nord de Business Improvements Districts (BID) ou Business Improvements Areas (BIA). À l’instar des pratiques repérées en Ontario ou aux États-Unis, les SDC jouent un rôle clé dans l’animation commerciale des territoires urbains. On discutera ici plus précisément de leur insertion dans les systèmes de gouvernance urbaine. D’une part, cette dernière découle du statut à la fois original et hybride des SDC. Ces organismes à but non lucratif, regroupent des entreprises privées, mais fonctionnent en lien avec le pouvoir municipal (dans la définition du territoire et la perception des cotisations). Cette insertion se révèle d’autre part au fil des mandats pris en charge par les SDC, qui dépassent la simple animation commerciale, pour empiéter sur des domaines traditionnellement municipaux comme l’aménagement mais aussi la sécurité dans le contexte post-pandémique. En cela, les SDC nous invitent à explorer des dynamiques de gouvernance urbaine à l’échelle micro-locale, complétant ainsi des réflexions qui ont, jusqu’à présent, plutôt privilégié l’échelle métropolitaine.

Municipal Economic Development Priorities and Municipal Workforces: Aaron Moore (University of Winnipeg), Joseph Lyons (The University of Western Ontario), Hannah Verrips (N/A)
Abstract: Municipal governments in Canada have a long history of trying to shape local economic development. In the past, many municipalities focused on attracting or retaining large manufacturing plants to provide good paying jobs for a low- and moderately- skilled workforce. Since the 1950s, however, the proportion of Canadians working in manufacturing has steadily declined as the economy shifted toward the service sectors and Canada’s workforce has become higher-skilled due to increasing levels of education. This paper examines whether Canadian municipalities have adjusted their economic development focus to reflect the decline of manufacturing, the rise of the service economy, and a changing workforce. To answer this question, we compiled a database of key sector priorities for all municipalities in Canada with populations over 20,000. By “key sector” we mean industry sectors that municipal economic development agencies identify in their strategy documents as priorities for future economic growth. We also catalogued and categorised municipal spending on economic development and included census data on municipal workforce composition, including levels of education and employment by industry sector and occupation (using the National Occupancy Categories and the North American Industry Classification System) for each jurisdiction. We then conducted multiple point-biserial correlations to determine whether municipal industry sector priorities aligned with municipal workforces. Our findings suggest that many municipalities in Canada continue to focus on attracting manufacturing despite the substantial decline of manufacturing and growth in high-skilled labour.

Gentrification through the “Normalization” of Space: Analyzing Cannabis Retail in Toronto: Jon Careless (-)
Abstract: Since the Canadian federal government legalized the sale and recreational use of cannabis in 2018, the City of Toronto has given rise to what the New York Times called a “Wild West of Marijuana Shops.” This article explores the growth of cannabis retail in Toronto by considering the social implications of its cooptation by the wellness industry. Jessica Parish (2017, p. 1) explores the entanglement of the wellness industry with gentrification of urban spaces, creating an exclusionary “forms of politics premised on the modification of biological existence, that is oriented towards the mitigation of susceptibility to disease and the optimization of life.” Rather than consider whether cannabis use has become more normalized, which is a common topic of existing research on this subject, this article proposes that cannabis users and retailers are best understood as continuing to occupy a liminal terrain between normality and abnormality. Using public notice records for proposed cannabis stores, this article reveals the public’s resentment and fear of cannabis and its users, juxtaposing them against policies requiring cannabis retailers to implement surveillance measures as well as complementary efforts by these stores to eschew any links to the stigmatized “other” with branding and store designs that cater to the wellness crowd. Looking directly at Moss Park, Toronto, a historically tolerant enclave for social service users, I look at the formation there of exclusionary spaces for cannabis consumption, which appeal to self-reliance and affluence while combatting the betwixt image of cannabis denoted by crime and disorder.