Considering the loss of influence of regional representativeness in a context of an enormous centralized bureaucracy, Louis Bernard proposes the establishment of a new order of government for the 17 administrative regions of Quebec. This opinion delivered in The duty of May 16 by the former Secretary General of the Government is not trivial. It revives the historic debate on the unfinished reform of government decentralization in Quebec.
With the significant centralization of the last ten years, particularly in health, the necessary swing of the pendulum requires options to be examined. Especially since the subnational territories concerned face imposing environmental challenges such as biodiversity, resource depletion, climate, landscapes, sustainable mobility, residual materials.
Since the rise in importance of the Quebec state from 1960, decentralization has been widely advocated through study commissions, green papers and preliminary projects. Among the initial diagnoses, a significant subnational organizational disorder was illustrated through the great profusion of territorial divisions. Since then, several elements of reform have been put forward. The municipal world has benefited from mergers and consolidations which have reduced the number of municipalities from 1748 (1961) to 1131 today. The administrative regions were institutionalized in 1968 to provide standardized areas for the regionalization of ministerial operations. In 1979, the MRC communities (regional county municipalities) were created, each headed by a council of municipal elected officials. In addition, over the past two decades, the government has designated more than forty specialized zones to experiment with economic development measures.
Quebec currently finds itself with four territorial categories to consider as part of the decentralization of responsibilities. This subnational public domain is still imperfect. Note that 63% of municipalities have fewer than 2,000 inhabitants, which limits their management capacity. Half of the 101 MRC territories have become very responsible despite their limited resources. The other half requires an innovative formula which, as a rural revitalization strategy, would alleviate the resistance of urban centers while allowing the development of small centers. Many of the 17 regions are huge, making it difficult to establish communities of interest. As for the recently introduced specialized zones, they remain marginal in terms of public management of goods, services and programs.
Furthermore, the general institutional model of Quebec territories offers its singularity. It is characterized by decentralized decentralization. Certainly, municipalities are local governments responsible for several grouped functions (roads, urban planning, recreation, public security, etc.).
However, in the rest of the vast subnational public domain, functions such as transport, health, employment, development, environment, higher education, tourism, culture, etc., are exercised by small agencies (directors, offices, councils, companies) that are monofunctional and independent of each other to fulfill their own targeted mission. They are vertically integrated within a sectoral administrative order. Horizontal coherence with other functions exercised in the same management territory is a set of governance relationships, governance for which overall territorial planning plays an essential role, which is still under-exploited.
Such a subnational public domain, fragmented by functions and fragmented in its decision-making power, proves relatively effective thanks in particular to well-targeted interventions, decision-making flexibility and freedom of initiatives. Changes have been made regularly as part of progressive territorial reform for more than 60 years.
Other changes are certainly desirable. Note in particular the case of small municipalities with low management capacity, several of which also struggle to renew their elected officials. Several MRC territories illustrate non-optimal governance bogged down by the imbalance of internal municipal power. Furthermore, regionalism finds it very difficult to assert its proactivity, while specialized areas lack a vigorous formula for coordinating actors that would help them adequately fulfill their mission.
The option of regional governments is certainly relevant for Quebec. Especially if the analysis of its feasibility allows us to encourage collective reflection on the strengths and weaknesses of the complex subnational public domain. To immediately stimulate innovative initiatives on the ground, there is no doubt that Quebec needs to review and generally improve its territorial planning processes.