Can city council handle that? Here's what each level of government actually does

Some big issues have been at the forefront of the municipal election campaign in Hamilton: creating more housing, addressing poverty and homelessness, and improving road safety among them.

There have also been plenty of promises about what candidates will do if elected – some have said they'll add staff to hospitals, or consider allowing Burlington to annex Waterdown. 

But can they actually do that? In Canada, each level of government – federal, provincial, and municipal – has its own suite of responsibilities. It's important to understand what candidates are actually responsible for when weighting their platforms and election promises. 

Here's a breakdown of who does what.

Municipal

According to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, municipal governments control many of the daily services used by their residents, such as:

• Airports
• Ambulance
• Animal control 
• Arts and culture
• Child care
• Economic development
• Fire department
• Waste collection and recycling
• Electric utilities
• Libraries
• Long term care and senior housing  
• Maintenance of local roads
• Parks and recreation
• Public transit
• Planning new developments and enhancing existing neighbourhoods
• Police 
• Public health
• Sidewalks
• Snow removal
• Social services
• Social housing  
• Water and sewage

Municipalities' powers are dictated by the province and laid out in Ontario's Municipal Act, meaning the province can also decide to change those powers. In 2018, for example, Premier Doug Ford's newly elected government decided to reduce the number of seats on Toronto city council in the middle of that year's election campaign. That decision was upheld by the Supreme Court last year, which noted that the democratic rights of municipalities are not mentioned in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and confirmed provinces have legislative authority over municipal institutions.

Candidates in Ontario's municipal elections all run as independent, not with political party affiliation. Municipalities cover their expenses largely through property taxes, but also through user fees and transfers from the provincial government.

Provincial

Provincial powers are laid out in the Constitution Act 1867, and includes important areas such as healthcare, schools and managing the environment. According to the Centre for Constitutional Studies, a Canadian think tank, provincial and federal powers were designed with a "doctrine of exclusivity," which means "each level of government is granted exclusive powers with the implication that the other level of government is excluded from enacting legislation relating to those powers."

Areas controlled by the province include:

• Hospitals
• Education
• Natural resources 
• The environment
• Power generation
• Property and civil rights
• Provincial highways such as Highway 403 and the QEW
• Tourism
• Jails for people serving sentences of less than two years, or who are awaiting trial
• Post-secondary education
• Marriage licenses

The province also, as mentioned earlier, oversees all municipal matters. In September, the Ontario Legislature voted to extend "strong mayor" power to the mayors of Ottawa and Toronto, which give those mayors the power to veto bylaws that conflict with provincial priorities, such as building housing. A council could override the mayor's veto with a two-thirds majority vote. Ford has said he is planning to expand the powers to more municipalities.

According to the Department of Finance Canada, the federal government will give Ontario $23.7 billion this year, including money from the Canada Health Transfer and the Canada Social Transfer, federal programs that support specific policy areas such as health care, post-secondary education, social assistance, social services, early childhood development and child care.

Less wealthy provinces also receive equalization payments, although Ontario has not received these since 2019.

Federal

The federal government's responsibilities include domains that interact with foreign countries and those that are standard across the country, such as employment insurance and criminal law, according to the Parliament of Canada. They include:

• National defence
• Foreign affairs
• Employment insurance
• Banking
• Federal taxes
• Canada Post
• Fisheries
• Shipping
• Railways
• The telephone system
• Pipelines
• Indigenous lands and rights
• Criminal law
• Prisons for people serving sentences of two years or more

The majority of federal income comes from personal and corporate income taxes.

For more of CBC Hamilton's municipal election coverage:

• OPINION: In Hamilton, real estate is the new art
• Want to get elected in Hamilton? Study finds campaign success doesn't come cheap
• Everything you need to know about voting in Hamilton's 2022 municipal election