The international action of cities has been undermined by the travel expense scandals that have been widely documented in recent days. It is important to put things into perspective.
The cities of Montreal and Quebec, like other large Canadian cities, have adopted an international strategy which is broken down into objectives, means and resources. This positioning is a necessary step in the current context where cities are required to be “global cities” to develop responses to the new challenges linked to globalization. The withdrawal from the Paris Agreement by the Trump government made American states, provinces, but especially regions and cities aware that a large part of the solutions to the fight against climate change now lay at government levels. Proximity.
The same is true, among other things, of migration issues, the fight against poverty, economic development as well as the attraction of labor, foreign students and tourists. And what about the deployment and financing of urban mobility infrastructures. Cities are also at the heart of the synergy to be developed between the different levels of government, the business world and the scientific world in order to attract foreign investment to their territory.
In 2022, the World Bank estimated that urban areas now house 56% of the world’s population, emit 70% of greenhouse gases and contribute 80% of global GDP. More and more local authorities are also realizing that they can make a difference in achieving the United Nations’ sustainable development goals.
Transparency and management rigor are non-negotiable
Cities are therefore at the heart of solutions to major global challenges and, as a result, are called upon to develop international relations practices, that is to say municipal diplomacy or city diplomacy.
Carrying out actions abroad and investing resources there is therefore not a choice for large cities, it is a duty and an obligation. However, to avoid being caught on their travel expenses, municipal administrations and elected officials must be exemplary in terms of rigor, consistency and efficiency. Strategic plan, budgetary management, transparency and accountability have always been fundamentals of management, the imprint of which must be a priority.
Research data and empirical observation teach us that the development of a municipal diplomacy strategy abroad pursues five functions, namely learning, promotion, support, attraction and influence. Draw inspiration from best practices, promote a distinctive image, support business networks, attract investments, labor, tourists, students or events and influence public policies nationally and internationally are examples of actions present in city diplomacy elsewhere in the world.
Each large city decides on the configuration of priorities given to these functions by taking into consideration the characteristics of its territory, the will of elected officials, the competence of municipal administrations, the ambitions of interest groups and the available budgets.
Twinning and city networks
To realize their ambitions on the international stage, cities resort to bilateral and multilateral actions. Supporting businesses in targeted territories as well as the twinning of sister cities are common bilateral actions.
Montreal-Lyon and Quebec-Bordeaux are examples of twinning that are productive for all stakeholders. With regard to multilateral actions, we observe a somewhat chaotic multiplication of organizations both at the national and international level. There are more than 300 organizations of all kinds that bring together port cities, wine-producing cities, French-speaking cities, world heritage cities, living together cities, university cities, sustainable development cities, etc. In short, you can easily get lost. Membership in this or that network must be analyzed with parsimony, because municipal authorities can quickly transform into travel agencies and be vulnerable in terms of sound management of public funds.
There is no doubt that Montreal is a city that is the envy of the world. International rankings consider our metropolis to be an “alpha minus” city in the same group as Seoul, Zurich, Melbourne, San Francisco and many others. It must draw on its international relations just as it must contribute to improving the fate of the planet by going beyond its borders. The current crisis in spending allocations should not obscure the legitimacy of the international action of our cities.