Public Administration Commons^™

Strategic Management In Ontario Regional Government: Evaluating The Factors For Successful Policy Implementation For Intensification And Infrastructure Investment, Valerie Hendry

MPA Major Research Papers

In this study, I identify the strategic management factors for successful policy implementation for intensification and infrastructure investment in regional governments. These factors include organizational capacities, administrative leadership within government, and administrative governance. To examine these themes, I employed a qualitative case study analysis to evaluate how certain strategic management factors and processes influence regional government decisions and outcomes related to the prioritization of water and sewer infrastructure investment in intensification areas to comply with the provincial 2006 Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The case study uses strategic management theory to help to analyze and explain observed data …

Accountability: Understanding The Effect Of Governance Structures On Land Ambulance Services In Ontario, Connected By Consolidated Municipal Services Management (Cmsm) Agreements, Michael Longeway

MPA Major Research Papers

Ontario has seen significant changes across the municipal landscape, including the realignment of service responsibilities. One of the products of this realignment was the introduction of the CMSM program in 1998, which saw local municipalities take on the responsibilities for many services, including land ambulance. Land ambulance is an important life-saving service (Aringhieri et al. 2017). Decision-makers must ensure that such services must be delivered with optimal performance. As a public service in Ontario, this includes democratic performance. Crucial to the anchorage of democratic performance is accountability. Accountability is a transaction of information, dialogue, and rewards/sanctions (Brandsma and Schillemans 2012). …

The Impact Of Covid-19 On Library Board Governance: An Analysis Of Public Library Board Meeting Processes And Participation In Canada In 2020, Sarah Macintyre

MPA Major Research Papers

In March 2020, provincial and municipal governments in Canada implemented measures to reduce the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, municipalities had to quickly transition to holding their public meetings in new ways. Some organizations moved to teleconference meetings, while others used videoconferencing software. Public libraries were no exception to this, and library boards began holding their public board meetings electronically. The aims of this study are threefold: First, to identify what methods were used to hold electronic public library board meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic, second, to determine whether such methods resulted in a change in public …

Monitoring & Evaluation Content In Municipal Official Plans: An Assessment Of Plan Quality & Implementation Actions, Owen Mccabe

MPA Major Research Papers

Municipal official plans are important tools in the Province of Ontario’s land use planning system. As documents that guide how communities manage change, they are a central element of planning practice and important objects of research. Official plans are not static – they are updated regularly as part of a plan-making cycle that includes issue identification, policy development, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. This research paper is focussed on the monitoring and evaluation aspect of the plan-making cycle, and specifically, the content in municipal official plans that addresses and guides these practices. It builds on the existing plan quality and …

Political Practice: The Career Mobility And Ambitions Of Local Councillors, Rachel Nauta

MPA Major Research Papers

This research project explores the career ambitions of local politicians to seek office at higher levels of government. Testing theories from existing political ambition research in other jurisdictions, the paper explores factors of political ambition in Ontario through a survey of first-time local councillors and an archival study of past multi-level political careers. Success in politics can follow many paths, but results from the survey indicate that councillors who were younger, male, extraverted, and involved in partisan political activities were more likely to have ambitions for higher office. Further, while American political careers tend to move upward from local to …

Watching But Unseen? An Evaluation Of The Transparency Of The Online Presence Of Integrity Commissioners In Ontario, Kirby Oudekerk

MPA Major Research Papers

The expected benefits of transparency in government, such as increased public engagement and trust, are well established. Transparency also enables a better accounting of elected officials by the public, but this accounting depends on having rules in place and someone responsible for enforcing those rules. The Ontario government took steps to provide this for local governments in Ontario when it permitted municipalities to create codes of conduct and to hire a municipal Integrity Commissioner to enforce those codes. However, the ultimate accountability is delivered by the voting public during municipal elections and, in order for this political accountability regime to …

Does Long Term Strategic Planning Lead To Improved Financial Performance? A Case Study In Ontario Municipalities, Renato Pullia

MPA Major Research Papers

This research looks at nine municipalities in Ontario that either have or have not adopted a strategic plan of 10+ years and a long-term financial plan of 5+ years, and assesses their financial change based on a set of financial criteria at two different points in time, 2000 and 2019. Using statistical analysis and longitudinal comparison, the research aims to test the hypothesis that strategic planning with a 10+ years’ time horizon provides a framework for longer-term financial decision-making, including strategies and key actions to facilitate multi-year, integrated, strategic decision-making, and provides more financially sound municipal entities than those municipalities …

Examining Connected And Automated Vehicle (Cav) Policy In Ontario: A Modified Multiple Streams Framework Analysis, James Scott

MPA Major Research Papers

This research paper utilizes Kingdon’s (1984) Multiple Streams Framework to systematically analyze influential agenda-setting variables in the policy domain of connected and automated vehicles (CAV) in Ontario, Canada. The paper also leverages the Five Stream Confluence Model, a model which builds on the Multiple Streams Framework and is designed by Howlett et al. (2015) to analyze policy formation. The two foundational research questions that will guide the overall direction of this paper are: (1) What influenced Ontario to be the first province in Canada to legislate connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) in 2015? (2) Have influential agenda-setting variables translated through …

Determinants Of Success: The Atlantic First Nations Water Authority, Michaela Sferrazza

MPA Major Research Papers

Water security and access within First Nations communities entails a complex set of issues. However, this does not excuse government authorities’ inadequacies to address the inequity among Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada regarding access to safe water. The Human Rights Watch describes access to safe drinking water “as a fundamental human right easily enjoyed by most Canadians” (Human Rights Watch 2016), and one that is integral to health and wellbeing. Many Indigenous communities have long been lacking access to clean, potable water which has many socio-economic implications. In a 2012 article written by White et al., they articulate that …

Alternative Revenue Generation In Ontario Municipalities: The Utilization Of Municipal Accommodation Tax (Mat), Hayley Watts

MPA Major Research Papers

In recent years the Province of Ontario has enabled municipalities to adopt accommodation taxes as a revenue generating tool. There is an absence of data in Canada as to what this revenue is being utilized for. Most of the literature on the topic comes out of the United States and Europe, where hotel and accommodation taxes have been commonplace for many years, although a lot of the research focuses on the impacts of accommodation taxes on tourism. Hypothesising that the accommodation tax in Ontario is being utilized as a revenue-generating tool to offset other line items in municipal budgets, this …

Aging In Place In Rural Canada: A Policy Analysis Of Aging In Place Across Canada, Aleah Whalen

MPA Major Research Papers

This research paper attempts to answer the question of: how rural municipalities are preparing for an aging population across Canada? A random sample of one hundred rural municipalities were selected and analyzed for their availability of an aging policy. The aging policies adopted by municipalities are measured to demonstrate aging community planning preparedness from the Age-Friendly Rural and Remote Communities: A Guide. Realizing the impact of an aging population, demonstrates a need for addressing specific senior care at the local level. The findings of this study suggest that small rural municipalities are not preparing equally to meet the identified needs …

Lessons Learned: Neel Kashkari, Yasemin Esmen

Journal of Financial Crises

Neel Kashkari was the Interim Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability between October 2008 and May 2009. He oversaw the architecture and administration of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) during this time. This “Lessons Learned” is based on a phone interview with Mr. Kashkari.

Lessons Learned: Phillip Swagel, Yasemin Esmen

Journal of Financial Crises

Phillip Swagel was Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the U.S. Treasury between 2006 and 2009. During this time, he advised Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson as his chief economist, served as a member of the TARP Investment Committee, and played an important part in the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This “Lessons Learned” is based on a phone interview with Mr. Swagel.

Lessons Learned: James Wigand, Sandra Ward

Journal of Financial Crises

A finance specialist and longtime Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) executive, James Wigand served as Deputy Director, Franchise and Asset Marketing, at the FDIC from 1997 to 2010, a period encompassing the global financial crisis of 2007-09. Wigand oversaw the resolution of all insured-depository institutions during the crisis, arranging acquisitions of troubled banks or liquidating them. He also acted as liaison between the chairman and board of directors of the FDIC. In 2010, in the aftermath of the crisis, Wigand was named director of the newly created Office of Complex Financial Institutions at the FDIC, an office formed under the …

Lessons Learned: Diane Ellis, Sandra Ward

Journal of Financial Crises

Diane Ellis served as Deputy Director, Insurance and Research, at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. during the financial crisis of 2007-09. The FDIC played a critical role in stabilizing financial conditions and establishing confidence in the financial markets by guaranteeing newly issued debt on a temporary basis for banks and thrifts as well as financial holding companies and eligible bank affiliates. The agency also fully guaranteed certain non-interest-bearing transaction deposit accounts. Ellis played an important role in implementing the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program that proved so critical in stemming the crisis. This “Lessons Learned” is based on a phone interview …

Comment Letters May Have Helped Shape Federal Reserve’S Municipal Liquidity Facility (Mlf) And Main Street Lending Program (Mslp), Steven Kelly

Journal of Financial Crises

YPFS Archive Notes highlight noteworthy content or additions to the YPFS Resource Library.

In support of the YPFS efforts to archive primary and secondary materials that shed light on financial crises, this YPFS Archive Note highlights the addition of public comment letters solicited by the Federal Reserve to evaluate two of its proposed emergency lending facilities, the Municipal Liquidity Facility (MLF) and the Main Street Lending Program (MSLP) designed to help the US economy endure the financial stresses caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The released correspondence reflects a wide array of congressional and stakeholder concerns. Ultimately, the Fed incorporated …

Hungary: Magyar Reorganizációs És Követeléskezelő Zrt (Mark Zrt.), Mallory Dreyer

Journal of Financial Crises

Hungary saw a surge in commercial real estate (CRE) lending prior to the Global Financial Crisis. By 2014, the banking sector was saddled with a high ratio of nonperforming CRE loans and repossessed property, though Hungarian banks remained solvent with high capital adequacy ratios. The central bank of Hungary, the MNB, announced the creation of an asset management company, Magyar Reorganizációs és Követeléskezelő Zrt. (MARK), to purchase nonperforming CRE assets from Hungarian banks on a voluntary basis, to clear their balance sheets and allow for increased lending. MARK was fully-owned by the MNB, which provided MARK’s share capital and a …

Spain: Sociedad De Gestión De Activos Procedentes De La Reestructuración Bancaria (Sareb), David Tam, Sean Fulmer

Journal of Financial Crises

In the wake of the Global Financial Crisis, the Spanish real estate market struggled to recover, which posed significant issues for savings banks that had an outsized exposure to the real estate sector. The Spanish government created Sociedad de Gestión de Activos procedentes de la Reestructuración Bancaria (SAREB) in 2012 to buy impaired real estate assets from troubled banks and sell them over a 15-year period using funds from an up to €100 billion ($123 billion) loan from the European Financial Stability Facility. Its mandate was “to help clean up the Spanish financial sector and, in particular, the banks that …

United Kingdom Asset Resolution Limited (Ukar), Aidan Lawson

Journal of Financial Crises

As the Global Financial Crisis began to unfold, the United Kingdom (UK) saw two of its largest mortgage lenders in Bradford & Bingley (B&B) and Northern Rock begin to weaken dramatically under the pressure that housing and financial markets were facing. Northern Rock and B&B both faced severe funding problems due to a worsening global credit crunch and both would be nationalized in 2008. Despite this effort, the crisis continued to worsen globally, and the UK government created UK Asset Resolution Limited (UKAR) on October 1, 2010. This organization’s goal was to wind down and maximize the return on the …

Asset Management Corporation Of Nigeria (Amcon): Asset Management, Pascal Ungersboeck, Corey N. Runkel

Journal of Financial Crises

Nigeria experienced the Global Financial Crisis as a dramatic decline in the price of crude oil and a burst stock market bubble. These losses were compounded by a high level of margin lending, resulting in large numbers of nonperforming loans (NPLs) for Nigerian banks. The government established the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) in July 2010 to purchase NPLs and inject capital in insolvent banks. In three purchases between December 2010 and December 2011, AMCON acquired loans with face value ₦4.02 trillion ($26.8 billion) for ₦1.76 trillion. As a result, NPLs in Nigerian banks fell from a peak of …