VANCOUVER—Local governments across Canada have increased spending significantly in recent years—even before the COVID-19 pandemic and recession, finds a new study by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
“Despite claims from municipal policymakers about their dire financial positions, local government revenues and spending have increased substantially,” said Livio Di Matteo, Fraser Institute senior fellow, economics professor at Lakehead University and author of Local Leviathans: The Rise of Municipal Government Spending in Canada, 1990–2018.