Municipal Reforms in Montreal and the Issue of Fairness

Municipal governance in the Montreal metropolitan region has recently undergone several phases oftransformation. The first, in 2001-2002, was characterized by amalgamation and the introduction of ametropolitan governance structure. This was followed, in 2006, by a round of de-amalgamation. Using annualmunicipal data on residential tax base and global tax rate covering the period from 1996 to 2011 for allmunicipalities of the metropolitan area, the impacts of these reforms on fairness are estimated. Our findingsshow that amalgamation raises equity among municipalities and that de-amalgamation partly reintroducedinequity in the metropolitan area