Dispositioning military plutonium to promote nuclear non-proliferation

Given that all chemical varieties of plutonium can be used in nuclear weapons, sophisticated measures are required to disposition it so that its potential to contribute to horizontal and vertical nuclear proliferation is minimised. This article argues that the present options for dispositioning military plutonium are not acceptable, and, as a result, this plutonium should be placed in international storage until an acceptable method is found. First, a brief description of plutonium and its use is given. A discussion follows on non-proliferation and feasibility criteria by which the policy options to disposition military plutonium should be assessed. Then several policy options are outlined and assessed against the specified criteria. Finally, the concept of international plutonium storage is described

The False Panacea of City Charters? A Political Perspective on the Case of Toronto

Toronto is unlike any other city, as its local boosters will not hesitate to point out. That was the basis, after all, of the “charter movement” that demanded special rights for a mega-city that the movement’s backers insisted was so vital that it even warranted a status similar to that of an entire province. Their efforts culminated in the province’s passage in 2006 of the City of Toronto Act, which appeared on its face to grant the metropolis the power it believed it required and merited. In reality, the Ontario government may have actually set Toronto back, leaving it more at the mercy of provincial power than other smaller municipalities. The few additional taxation powers that were granted by the ostensible Toronto “charter” — the City of Toronto Act — are, in reality, still overseen by the province, which retains the right to limit those revenue tools if it considers it “desirable in the provincial interest to do so.” But while Toronto may have been given just a small number of revenue tools, which it has used only sparingly, and the use of those tools is ultimately decided by Queen’s Park, their very existence has given the province licence to sidestep the city’s calls for more funding. The provincial Liberals have, in the past, insisted that Toronto make use of its own taxes before it demands more provincial funds. Meanwhile, the City of Toronto Act did nothing to curtail the power of the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). Because municipal zoning decisions made in Toronto can be appealed to the OMB, which can substitute its own idea of “good planning” for elected local government, the City of Toronto is ultimately left with limited control over its planning decisions. In sum, virtually none of the desires that Toronto expected would be served by a city charter have been fulfilled. Quite the opposite, it would appear that the dreams once imagined by charter-city proponents have been snuffed out, and there is no longer any real political voice anywhere advocating for more autonomy and taxing authority for Toronto. In the pursuit of more funds for transit infrastructure, the current mayor, John Tory, has returned to the traditional model of attracting funds from higher levels of government, rather than seeking to use any of the revenue tools provided by the City of Toronto Act. It would be truly surprising if municipal leaders anywhere else in Canada sought to emulate Toronto’s experience with charter status. If that experience serves as a model for anything, it is as a way for provincial governments to cleverly defuse and deflect a major city’s demands for enhanced status

Les villes anglophones au Québec. Does it matter that they have almost disappeared ?

L’objectif du présent article est d’analyser l’importance de l’existence des municipalités à majorité anglophone, tant pour les anglophones du Québec que pour l’ensemble de la province. Les questions fondamentales qui sous-tendent cet article sont les suivantes : quel était le rôle de la question linguistique dans le processus des fusions municipales ayant eu lieu récemment au Québec, particulièrement celles qui ont mené à la création de la nouvelle Ville de Montréal ? quelles conséquences ces fusions entraîneront-elles sur la vie des anglophones du Québec ?This article aims to analyse the importance of the existence of municipalities with an English-speaking majority, both for Québec’s English-speaking population and for the province as whole. The following fundamental questions underlie this article : What was the role of the language issue in the process of municipal mergers recently implemented in Québec, particularly as regards the mergers that led to the creation of the new city of Montréal ? What will be the impacts of these mergers on the lives of anglophones in Québec 

Suburban Governance: A Global View

Book review of Suburban Governance: A Global View

Reassessing the Case for Development Charges in Canadian Municipalities

“Growth should pay for growth.” This slogan—the common justification for development charges—is rarely challenged in municipal circles. The principle that those who cause new urban growth should pay for the infrastructure associated with it has generally been taken for granted, at least for the last few decades. Development charges evolved from post-1945 subdivision agreements and were initially accepted by most developers as a mechanism for enhancing the likelihood that current residents in a municipality would agree to new development. They now add as much as $90,000 to the cost of a new house in some parts of the Greater Toronto Area. If we are serious about attempting to lower the cost of housing in our prosperous cities, it is time to consider reverting to the past practice of having municipalities pay for the cost of new infrastructure associated with development. Such a policy—still largely in place in metropolitan Montreal—would lead to increased levels of municipal borrowing and modest increases in property taxes in some places. This report explores the origins of development charges in the United States and Canada, examines how they have been assessed in the academic literature, and looks at some of the alternatives as experienced in other countries. Prescriptions for future policy are cautious because other countries seem to be increasingly adopting similar charges and reducing them where they exist in Canada could lead to injustice for recent home buyers and other possible unintended consequences.https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/urbancentre-reports/1007/thumbnail.jp

What is a Meeting? Municipal Councils and the Ontario Ombudsman : Draft

Recent decisions by the Ontario ombudsman suggest that informal meetings of small groups of municipal councillors in which municipal business is discussed are in violation of Ontario’s Municipal Act. In this province the Municipal Act provides that, except in certain specified circumstances, municipal council and committee meetings must be open to the public. If a municipality has not appointed its own “closed meeting investigator,” the provincial ombudsman is charged with investigating complaints from the public about municipal meetings that have allegedly been improperly closed. Much hinges on the definition of a meeting. If “meeting” is defined too formally, then a council wanting to do business in private can simply arrange its affairs before a formal meeting takes place. Such considerations have caused the ombudsman to state that, for a municipal meeting to take place in Ontario, “Members of council (or a committee) must come together for the purpose of exercising the power or authority of the council (or committee), or for the purpose of doing the groundwork necessary to exercise that power or authority.” It is this definition that suggests that informal meetings of groups of municipal councillors might well be illegal meetings. The object of this paper is to describe how this state of affairs came to be and what its implications are for Ontario municipal government

Municipal Resource Guide to Leading Practices in Cost Savings

Ontario municipalities of all sizes face pressure to “do more with less.” Commissioned by the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs, this Resource Guide provides municipal officials with single-source information about a range of current leading practices in cost savings in small and mid-sized Ontario municipalities. Municipalities across the province are continually developing innovative practices that save costs without incurring service level reductions. Most of these practices involve small-scale initiatives that result in modest savings. Yet even modest savings add up over time, and multiple small initiatives in a single municipality can make a big difference. In addition, by providing an opportunity to re-think established service provision practices, these initiatives often have significant non-monetary benefits as well. This Guide, based on a year of research by a team at Western University, presents detailed profiles of 14 selected cases of leading practices in cost savings. The case studies come from municipalities of varying sizes in all regions of the province, and profile leading practices in a wide variety of service fields. In addition to these cases, the Guide presents a reference compendium of 159 cost-savings recommendations from recent Municipal Service Delivery Reviews. The Guide is intended to serve as a source of ideas and inspiration for Ontario’s local officials as they seek to provide the best possible services to their residents in challenging fiscal times.https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/urbancentre-reports/1000/thumbnail.jp

Institutions and facility mergers in the Italian education system: Models and case studies

In recent years, across Europe, the economic crisis has resulted in an increased pressure on education systems. Notably, Italy has been one of the countries that has experienced the most severe reduction in public expenditure in the education sector. In the described conditions, Italian governmental institutions have started to perform rationalisation actions, aimed at modifying the current configuration of the existing facilities offering educational services (either by entirely closing and merging some of them, or by downsizing or transferring capacities), in order to increase the affordability of the system while still providing a required minimum service level. These strategic choices may have a lasting impact; therefore, there is a need for appropriate decision support tools capable of assisting planners. For this reason, after a description of the context and a review of the current literature, this paper presents two novel mathematical models for addressing rationalisation decisions in the Italian education system. The usability of such models is tested by means of real-world case studies, offering interesting insights

A location model for the reorganization of a school system: the Italian case study.

This work analyses a problem concerning the reorganisation of the school system located in a given region. In particular, the problem has been tackled considering the requirements indicated for the Italian case related to the reorganisation of pre-primary, primary and secondary schools in integrated institutions managed in a centralised way. In order to solve the problem, two versions of a location model are proposed. The application to a real case study shows how the model can be used as a viable decision support system