Public Infrastructure in the Greater Toronto Area: A National Challenge Addressed at the Local Level

Abstract

This article provides a brief summary of infrastructure in twentieth-century Canada. An analysis is then presented, showing the post-war evolution of municipalities in the Greater Toronto Area, the first and largest municipal unit in Canada. It was municipalities, and not the federal or provincial governments, that came to own and operate nearly half of the total Canadian public stock. The article then discusses the intricate ways in which the funding mechanisms of public infrastructure developed and argues in some instances that funding on the scale of needed infrastructure explains how governments themselves developed. It explores how the current system, albeit intricate, continues to drive local economies in the Greater Toronto Area, now the key engine of Canadian national growth.

Keywords

• Greater Toronto Area (GTA)
• public infrastructure
• municipalities
• federal government
• provincial government
• Canada