The Frontier Centre for Public Policy (FCPP) is an independent, non-profit research and educational organization whose mission is “to broaden the debate on our future through public policy research and education and to explore positive changes within our public institutions that support economic growth and opportunity.”
FCPP - Ideas for a better tomorrow.
‘Getting a Better Bang for the Pothole Buck’ a publication from their Policy Series (Transportation/Local Government Models) suggests it’s time for rural municipalities to consider identifying their roads’ heaviest users and assessing them appropriately to pay for the roads’ upkeep.
Executive Summary (partial)
- Rural Canadian municipalities represent a very small proportion of total provincial population numbers compared with urban ones, but they extend over huge areas and service small rural communities.
- Many rural municipalities spend large sums on transportation infrastructure. Compared with urban municipalities, a much greater proportion of their expenditures goes to infrastructure.
- Roads are either public or private goods depending on the volume of usage and its impact. For relatively low-impact usage such as that of private motor vehicles, roads can be treated as a public good. For high-impact usage such as heavy trade vehicles, they are best viewed as a private good.
RoadMap: More..View Report as PDF (18 pages)..
CentreLine: We need more independent results-orientated ideas like this in Ontario as well.