GOLD Report I - UCLG

241years, however, local governments havebecome more active in a wide range ofpolicy domains in both countries, mirroringcertain global trends. The most widespreadtrend has been toward the growth of multilevelgovernance as both local governmentsand higher-level governmentsassume new roles in areas where theywere less active before.Local government functions. Local governmentsin Canada and the UnitedStates take on certain functions that areunusual in most established democracies.The greater local expenditure in the NorthAmerican nations stems largely from localgovernment responsibilities in educationand public safety. In the United States,individual states assign to local governmentsresponsibility for primary, secondaryand pre-school education, as well as forpolice and public safety. These traditionalareas of local responsibility have becomemore complex in recent years, but haveremained comparatively stable in recentdecades.Canadian provinces and U.S. states varywidely in their responses to other functionsrelegated to local government. Severalprovinces and states, for instance, havetheir own policies for land use and agriculturalplanning; others have set down specificmandates for local planners to follow. Inmost states and provinces, however, planningremains predominantly a local function.Provision of health and social servicesalso varies. Some states and provinceshave enacted legislation that gives localitiesmore responsibility for welfare services,hospitals and other matters.Ontario, for instance, assigns localitiesauthority for administering social securityand kindergartens; other provinces do not.Environmental services, planning, buildingpermits, land use, sanitation, and refusecollection usually require some local responsibility,as they do in many countries.Even road maintenance may require somelocal government participation, especiallyin urban areas in Canada. In both countries,cultural services, such as museums,may also fall to local government alongwith some responsibility for local infrastructure,and fire protection or health services.Over the past four decades, there has beena gradual expansion in the number andtypes of responsibilities local governmentshave taken on. However, most have involvedsome sharing of responsibilitieswith higher government tiers. In severaldomains where local governments havebecome more active, such as environmentalpolicy, waste management, publichealth, and transportation, authorities atthe national, provincial or state level mayplay as decisive a role as local authorities.Shifts in local service provision. One ofthe most far-reaching recent transformationsin provision of local services has beenthe shift toward privatization. Contractingfor services with private businesses ornonprofit organizations has become a commonpractice among local governments inthe United States. For the most part, thishas come about without the legal mandatesthat have spurred privatization in NewZealand or Europe. In the U.S., privatizationis now well-established as a pragmaticalternative when other resource channelswill not serve. In surveys, two thirds ormore of local managers report that privatizationhas been considered and approvedas an alternative to public provision (ICMA2003). After a surge in the 1990s, it seemssafe to say that privatization has been astaple of local government since 2000.Although privatization has been on theagenda in Canada as well, it has not beenpursued as aggressively as it has in theUnited States. Even so, in neither countryhas the shift to privatization been as dramaticas it has been in Australia, New Zealand,and some European countries.Local entrepreneurship, in the sense of localownership of utilities, transport authorities,and facilities, is more limited than it is in partsThe greater localexpenditure in theNorth Americannations stemslargely from localgovernmentresponsibilities ineducation andpublic safety