Gatineau Monde Lecture series reports
Former Mayor Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin talks about cities
Reuel S. Amdur
”They called me Max the Tax.” It was True Confessions time at the Société Gatineau Monde conference at the Maison du citoyen on March 12, Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin speaking. Perhaps he will excuse us if we call him MPJ.
Max the Tax finds fault with the municipal tax structure. For starters, it is unfair. A widow, barely managing to get by, lives in a house nearby one that is virtually identical owned by a high paid civil servant. They pay the same property tax. Far fairer would be a municipal income tax. It would also be more flexible, making it more possible to raise more revenue to meet municipal needs.
The current situation leaves Gatineau and other cities in a perpetual state of enforced neglect, in maintaining infrastructure, for instance. It is a constant struggle to rob Peter to pay Paul. If you don’t believe MPJ, take a drive along Lucerne Boulevard east of Chemin Vanier.
Municipalities have little ability to deal with matters affecting them. They are merely creatures of the province, which does not allow them the right to impose an income tax. At the same time, the demands on local government and the challenges facing it are growing. It never had to deal with climate change before. Remember the floods in Gatineau? And there is the matter of human needs—health, family policy, homelessness, poverty, immigration, culture, and recreation.
Health? Quality of air and water. Homelessness? Over 50 years of federal neglect of housing policy has resulted in a crisis. Today the homeless are not just the mentally ill, addicts, and socially maladjusted. We have, so to speak, a better class of homeless. Health? There has been a similar neglect by feds and provinces. It was thought that it would be a good idea to limit the number of physicians in order to control health costs.
Immigration? The feds decide but local government carries the can. It must go cap in hand to plead for the wherewithal to deal with the influx. In fact, local government also finds itself involved in international relations.
Culture and recreation? There are new demands. For example, local government is now called upon to encourage and facilitate active transportation.
The tax base is also facing a new challenge. There is competition to local business from websites such as Amazon.
MPJ noted that facts on the ground make local politicians change their stripes. He spoke of John Tory, a Conservative former Toronto mayor, driven to call for the province to provide more help to deal with issues of housing and homelessness.
The rise of local political parties has been one consequence of the growing challenges facing local government. MPJ has been in the thick of this movement, taking a leading role in the creation of Action Gatineau in 2009. They came on the scene with a manifesto, which, as with a certain other one, designed to shake things up. He was elected as mayor of Gatineau in 2013 and re-elected in 2017.
While the issue of local government power is of utmost importance, vision is also essential. MJP governed with a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of local government and a strong belief that local government needs to be reformed to meet its challenges. By contrast, former Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson was opposed to a municipal income tax. Instead of being concerned about what local government needs to meet its challenges, he was committed to keep tax increases at three percent. He was famous for his Tammany Hall approach, kissing babies, attending baptisms and bar mitzvahs, showing up at book launches, and cutting ribbons at the opening of new stores.
What needs to be done to give local government the powers it needs, including the power to levy an income tax? He mentioned three possibilities, somewhat facetiously. Of course, he observed, it would be wildly popular to reopen the constitutional debate. Alternatively, there is always the option of Quebec independence. (He did not mention that Parti Québécois governments were no more open to local government reform than governments of the other parties.) Finally, and least unlikely, was the option of the province giving local government more of the powers it needs.
We asked him for his thoughts on France Belisle’s resignation. He replied that it is difficult to become mayor without first having the experience of serving on council. Local government is complex, more difficult for office-holders than those at other levels of government, in his opinion. Also, she was an independent. A party, a team, helps, with the support of other people on the same wave-length working together.
Photo caption: Former Gatineau mayor Pedneaud-Jobin following his speech at the Gatineau Monde lecture in Hull, March 12.
Photo credit: Reuel S Amdur