Governing Ourselves? The Politics of Canadian Communities,
Marie Louise McAllister, Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press,
2004, pp. 334.
This book will become a reference text for urban students and scholars
with an interest in the Canadian urban local governance system because of
its outstanding and up-to-date bibliography, a significant achievement
given the volume of academic contributions on recent municipal reforms.
Marie Louise McAllister introduces the politics of Canadian communities as
a topic of contention—the position that local politics matters is
not obvious and, in fact, may actually be arguable. However, she makes a
strong case for a far-reaching but nuanced answer.