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A Bibliography on Local Government in
British Columbia - Continued

Services Provided By Municipal Government

Considering the importance of the subject, there is not a great deal of empirical literature about the provision of municipal government services in Canada. There are historical accounts of the origins of local government services, of increasing demands on local governments after 1880, the impact of the Depression on the transfer of social responsibilities to the other levels of government, and the increasing emphasis on "quality of life" concerns since the 1960s. There are also debates on privatization and over whether various services should be provided at the regional level or the municipal level, and ever-present calls for more funds for local governments. In the last few years there also seems to have been more attention placed on the possible role of municipal governments in the provision of social services. However, empirical studies of what administrative techniques individual municipalities use to provide services, and comparative studies of the methods and costs of providing services in different places are few and far between in the academic literature. Equally striking is the lack of attention to the problems of small towns and rural areas in providing high quality and diverse services on a very limited tax base. The different theoretical approaches towards local government are prominent in what literature does exist about the provision of local services. Mainstream and public choice theorists offer very different perspectives on what is the most efficient way to provide services, and how best to encourage responsiveness to public demands. Critics from the left, meanwhile, focus attention on the extent to which the services provided by local government serve the needs of property developers, as opposed to neighbourhood residents.
 

Given the small amount of information available on most types of services, general Canadian and B.C. references have been interfiled in subcategories C to E below. For materials on social services, see section 11, part A.
 

A. General Canadian Works

Bird, Richard M. and N. Enid Slack. Urban Public Finance in Canada. Chapter 6. Toronto: Butterworths, 1983. This chapter is on pricing urban services.
 

Bish, Robert L. "Improving Productivity in the Government Sector: The Role of Contracting Out." In Responses to Economic Change, ed. David Laidler. The Collected Research Studies; The Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada, no. 27. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1986. A few B.C. examples are used in this overview.
 

Bish, Robert L. and Vincent Ostrom. Understanding Urban Government: Metropolitan Reform Reconsidered. Washington, D. C.: The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1973. This is an American work, but many of the arguments can be applied in a Canadian context.
 

Downing, Paul B., ed. Local Service Pricing Policies and Their Effect on Urban Spatial Structure. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, for the British Columbia Institute for Economic Policy Analysis, 1976.
 

Ircha, Michael. "Local Government Services: An Equity Perspective." Plan Canada 26 (May 1986): 68-77.
 

Krause, Robert and Trevor Price. "The Impact of Financial Restraint on the Provision of Municipal Services in Canada." Planning and Administration 13 (Spring 1986): 58-63. Includes data from B.C.
 

McDavid, James C. "Privatizing Local Government Services in Canada, " p. 101 -16, Discussion, p. 117-20. In Michael A. Walker, ed. Privatization: Tactics and Techniques. Vancouver: The Fraser Institute,1988. Includes some B.C. examples.
 

Sproule-Jones, Mark. "Institutions, Constitutions, and Public Policy: A Public Choice Overview." Canadian Public Policy, ed. Michael M. Atkinson and Marsha A. Chandler, 127-50. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1983. Uses several B.C. service examples in the course of explaining the basics of public choice theory.
 

B. General Canadian Overview

C. Cultural and Recreational Services

Culos, Ray. "The Library Trustee in British Columbia." British Columbia Library Quarterly 36 (Oct. 1972 - Jan. 1973): 36-40.
 

Cummings, Don L. "A Successful Research to Referendum Trail Revisited." Recreation Canada 44 (Oct. 1986): 6-8; 10-12. About the steps taken to research citizen preferences before a referendum on recreational facilities was held in the District of Coquitlam.
 

Davison, Robert L. "Half a Century: The Commission Carries On." British Columbia Library Quarterly 33 (July-Oct. 1969): 3-10. Historical overview.
 

Dockendorf, Neil. "Sport Fields - Pay and Play." Recreation Canada 45 (Feb. 1987): 13-16. About the policy of the Burnaby Parks and Recreation Commission.
 

Dutton, Sue. The Effective Trustee Handbook. Ottawa: Canadian Library Association, 1987.
 

Gilroy, Marion and Samuel Rothstein, eds. As We Remember It: Interviews with Pioneering Librarians of British Columbia. Vancouver: School of Librarianship, University of British Columbia, 1970.
 

MacMillan, Alan. "A Trustee's Approach to Responsibilities and Politics." British Columbia Library Quarterly 36 (Oct. 72-Jan.73): 41-45.
 

McDonald, Robert A. J. "'Holy Retreat' or 'Practical Breathing Spot'?: Class Perceptions of Vancouver's Stanley Park, 1910 -1913." Canadian Historical Review 65 (June 1984): 127-53.
 

McFarland, E. "The Beginning of Municipal Park Systems." In Recreational Land Use: Perspectives on Its Evolution in Canada, ed. Geoffrey Wall and John S. Marsh, 257-71. Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1982. Includes some discussion of Vancouver.
 

McIvor, Christie and John Elvidge. "Municipal Arts Policies - The Proof of the Policy Pudding is in the Eating." Recreation Canada 46 (May 1988): 8-13, 16-21. Useful overview.
 

Recreation Canada 44 (Dec. 1986). Issue on recreation and community development.
 

Stone, Douglas T. "White Rock, British Columbia. A Community Programmed for Seniors." Recreation Canada 43 (July 1985): 35-37.
 

Szilos, Agnes. "Entrepreneurship in Municipal Recreation: One Department Approach." Recreation Canada 45 (Feb. 1987): 26-28. About Oak Bay.
 

Williams, Lorraine M. The Library Trustee and the Public Librarian: Partners in Service. Ottawa: Canadian Library Association, 1987.
 

Woodland, Alan and Ellen Heaney, eds. British Columbia Libraries: Historical Profiles. Vancouver, B.C.: The British Columbia Library Association, 1986. Includes information on many aspects of libraries in B.C., past and present.
 

Zuzanek, Jiri. "Municipal Support for the Arts in Canada." Recreation Canada 46 (May 1988): 28-33. Includes some B.C. statistics.
 

D. Engineering-Type Services

British Columbia. Ministry of Environment. Planning and Assessment Branch. Waste Management Branch. The Provincial Role in Municipal Solid Waste Management: A Discussion Paper. Victoria, 1988.
 

British Columbia. Ministry of Municipal Affairs. Maintenance Management of Municipal Operations - A Step by Step Approach. Prepared by Aplin and Martin Engineering Ltd. For the British Columbia Ministry of Municipal Affairs. Victoria, 1986.
 

British Columbia. Ministry of Municipal Affairs. Residential Services and Site Planning Standards. Victoria, 1980.
 

Cain, Louis R. "Water and Sanitation Services in Vancouver: An Historical Perspective." B.C. Studies, no. 30 (1976): 27-43.
 

Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Canada's Urban Infrastructure: Physical Condition and Funding Adequacy. Prepared for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Task Force on Municipal Infrastructure by the Technical Committee on Canada's Urban Infrastructure. June 1984.
 

Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Municipal Infrastructure in Canada: Physical Condition and Funding Adequacy. Municipal Dimensions, vol. 4, no. 1. Ottawa, 1985.
 

Goldberg, Michael A. "Municipal Arrogance or Economic Rationality: The Case of High Servicing Standards." Canadian Public Policy 6 (Winter 1980): 78-88. Uses data from the cities of Vancouver and Richmond.
 

Kemp, Karen Kathleen. "Municipal Energy Conservation Programs in B.C.: A Study of Innovation Decisions." M.A. thesis, University of Victoria, 1982.
 

Kitchen, Harry M. "Some Organizational Implications of Providing an Urban Service: The Case of Water." Canadian Public Administration 18 (Summer 1975): 297-308.
 

Kolankiewicz, Leon. "Compliance with Pollution Control Permits in the Lower Fraser Valley, 1967-1981." B.C. Studies, no. 72 (1986-87): 28-48.
 

Lambe, T. A. and C. D. Wild. "Formulation and Implementation of a Pricing Policy for Municipal Parking." Socio-Economic Planning Sciences 14 (1980): 25-32. A Victoria case study.
 

McDavid, James C. "The Canadian Experience with Privatizing Residential Solid Waste Collection Services." Public Administration Review 45 Sep.-Oct. 1985): 602-08.
 

McDavid, James. Residential Solid Waste Collection Services in Canadian Municipalities. Victoria: School of Public Administration, University of Victoria, 1983.
 

McDavid, James C. and Gregory K. Schick. "Privatization vs. Union - Management Cooperation: The Effects of Competition on Service Efficiency in Municipalities." Canadian Public Administration 30 (Fall 1987): 472-88. Compares residential solid waste collection arrangements in the West Vancouver District and the North Vancouver District.
 

Parking Policy Study for Suburban Downtowns in Greater Vancouver, B.C. Prepared for the GVRD by Hamilton and Associates, Ltd. Vancouver: Hamilton and Associates, 1983. Includes a framework for formulating municipal parking policy.
 

Proceedings of the First Canadian Conference on Urban Infrastructure. Held February 5 and 6, 1987, Toronto, Ontario. Produced by Sodanell Canada, Inc., Edmonton, Alberta. Distributed by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
 

Sonnen, Carl and Mark Haney. The Macroeconomic Impact of Accelerated Spending on Municipal Infrastructure. Municipal Dimensions, vol. 4, no. 3. Occasional Papers on Canadian Municipal Issues. Prepared for the FCM by Informetrica, Ltd. Ottawa: Federation of Canadian Municipalities, 1985.
 

Sproule-Jones, Mark. The Real World of Pollution Control. Vancouver: Westwater Research Centre, University of British Columbia, 1980.
 

Sproule-Jones, Mark. "The Social Appropriateness of Water Quality Management for the Lower Fraser River." Canadian Public Administration 21 (Summer 1978): 176-94.
 

Stephenson, James B., ed. The Practical Application of Economic Incentives to the Control of Pollution: The Case of British Columbia. Vancouver: Published for the British Columbia Institute for Economic Policy Analysis by the University of British Columbia Press, 1977.
 

Tickner, Glen and James C. McDavid. "Effects of Scale and Market Structure on the Costs of Residential Solid Waste Collection in Canadian Cities." Public Finance Quarterly 14 (Oct. 1986): 371-93.
 

Union of British Columbia Municipalities. B.C.'s Urban Infrastructure: An Extension of the National Federation of Canadian Municipalities' Survey and Analysis of Urban Infrastructure, 1984. Richmond, B.C., 1985.
 

E. Protective Services

McDavid, James C. "Part-time Fire Fighters in Canadian Municipalities: Cost and Effectiveness Comparisons." Canadian Public Administration 29 (Fall 1986): 377-87.
 

Task Force on Municipal Policing Costs in British Columbia. Task Force on Municipal Policing Costs: Final Recommendations. 1983. Copy in the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, Recreation, and Culture Local Government Research Library, in mimeo.
 

Task Force on Municipal Policing Costs in British Columbia. Task Force on Municipal Policing Costs in British Columbia: Preliminary Report for Discussion Purposes. Victoria, 1978. Co-ordinator: Patricia D. Ross.
 

Todor, William D. A Survey of Municipal Police Management in British Columbia. Vancouver: B.C. Police Commission, 1975.
 

Union of British Columbia Municipalities. Report on Municipal Policing Costs to the 1984 Convention of the Union of British Columbia Municipalities. Submitted by the Executive of the UBCM, Sept. 1984.
 

Please send any comments or questions to Nicola.Marotz@gov.bc.ca
 

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