Allan Robertson, one of the speakers on Thursday has produced to papers on the issues of size of council and its effectiveness. Please click on the titles below to download these articles.
How many councillors?
HRM - The Urban-Rural Question
Also, an article in the Globe and Mail from March 26th discusses the issues at hand. Below is a summarry of the findings. The full article is available for download here.
| Urban | Rural |
| Represents 80% of population | Represents 20% of population |
| Younger: 35.7% are between 20 and 44 | In rural areas 27.7% are between 20 and 44 |
| 97% of immigrants settle in urban areas (70% in Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal, most others to other urban areas – Western cities like Calgary) | 3% of immigrants who arrived between 2001 and 2006 settled in rural areas |
| In federal electoral ridings within CMAs, the average household income is nearly $79,000 | In ridings outside CMAs, incomes are just over $63,000 |
| More likely to report a sense of global citizenship and feelings of connectedness with people and events in other countries | Tend to identify more strongly with their own regions |
| Register comfort with change and complexity, see more opportunities than threats, like new technologies, enjoy mixing with people of different backgrounds, and think diversity - whether in family models or ethno-cultural backgrounds - enriches society. | Not happy with change or buying-learning about new technology, wary of social changes (immigration or sexual permissiveness), more likely than others to say that religion is an important part of their life, that they prize family bonds above all else, and that they are heavily involved in their local communities |
| Generally have a lot to look forward to, based on relative economic and cultural vibrancy | Some have idyllic existences in intimate small towns, but many cling to relatively isolated communities where economic opportunity seems to be waning and morale is going with it – many family farms and local resource jobs and manufacturing plants that once yielded small-town self-sufficiency are fading away |
| While 80% of Canadians live in CMAs, only 68% of federal ridings are within CMAs | Sparsely populated rural ridings are very over-represented |
| With municipal budget crises and other jurisdictional irritants, city dwellers may soon call for changes in taxation powers and representation in parliament | Should eighth-generation pure laine WASPS in rural ridings hold more sway than immigrant citizens struggling to build new lives in cities? |