Muniscope is Canada’s national resource on municipal issues, sponsored by the Intergovernmental Committee on Urban and Regional Research (ICURR). With a dedicated team of professional researchers backed by the largest circulating library of its kind in Canada, Muniscope is your best source for information to support local government policies, practices and service delivery.

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WHAT'S NEW

Bibliography on Rescaling and Regional Cooperation (Report)

   This is a bibliography that covers the topics of rescaling, municipal
   restructuring, regional governance, regional revenue and tax sharing
   mechanisms and regional co-operation among local governments in
   Canada. The report includes documents taken in large part from the
   Muniscope library and includes documentation produced by
   municipalities, provincial governments, think tanks as well as
   academic experts.
(Click here for the full report)

Grants in Lieu of Property Taxes (Report)

   Across Canada municipalities have three primary sources of revenue:
   property taxes, license fees, and user fees. The largest portion of
   municipal revenue is derived from property taxes. Typically, all levels
   of government are exempt from paying municipal property taxes, but in
   almost every province and territory, the government pays municipalities
   a grant in lieu of property taxes.

Most jurisdictions define the grant-in-lieu payment structure in legislation, aside from Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. However, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut have both created special policies for a grant-in-lieu program.
(Click here for the full report)

The Muniscope library is one of Canada's foremost document collections focusing on material related to local government and planning. The catalogue provides access to the library's many books, papers, technical reports, and conference proceedings as well as web-based reports and journal articles.

Book of Interest:

  Urban traffic calming and health:
  A literature review. / Bellefleur, O.;
  & Gagnon, F. — [Montréal] : National
  Collaborating Centre for Healthy
  Public Policy = Centre de
  collaboration nationale sur les politiques publiques et la santé, 2011.

Examines the effects of traffic calming in urban environments on four health determinants, namely the number and  severity of road collisions, air quality, environmental noise, and physical activity associated with active  transportation. Each item includes mechanisms of action, the effects of isolated traffic-calming measures, the  effects of area-wide calming schemes and concluding remarks.