In December 1996, the
Tory provincial government of Ontario launched a bomb
on the political agenda. It introduced Bill 103, the
City of Toronto Act. This Bill, adopted in April
1997, after five months of political struggle,
hearings, and huge public discontent, forced the
amalgamation of six local levels of government, and
the Metropolitan level of government, into a
"Megacity of Toronto" of about 2.4 million
people.
This book relates and
interprets that story and that of the grassroots
movement, Citizens for Local Democracy, that began a
crusade in the name of local democracy that has
brought the issue of democracy to the forefront of
public debates. It examines why we should fight to
keep open a certain kind of democratic space at the
local level in the midst of processes of state
restructuring. It looks at different strategies of
resistance used to reclaim control over everyday
life, and in so doing, it creates an opportunity for
the redefinition of citizenship and democracy in this
age of globalization.
Julie-Anne
Boudreau is currently working on her Ph.D. in Urban
Planning at the University of California, Los
Angeles.
Table of Contents
198
pages, cartoons, charts, bibliography, index
Paperback ISBN: 1-55164-164-x $19.99
Hardcover ISBN: 1-55164-165-8 $48.99
Urban
Planning
September
2000
