Municipal autonomy to create controlled corporations expanded

The Minister of Municipal Affairs has approved a new regulation that formally enables municipalities to create municipally controlled corporations without ministerial approval. The regulation sets out the details for a change made to the legislation in October 2017 in response to AUMA advocacy for greater municipal autonomy.

At the time the legislation was first introduced, AUMA also noted the need to specify that this change includes corporations created by multiple municipalities. AUMA is pleased to see that both the Act and Regulation reference controlled corporations created by one or more municipalities.

The changes made to the Municipal Government Act (MGA) in 2017 and the new Municipally Controlled Corporations Regulation came into force on July 1, 2018. Municipal Affairs has developed a fact sheet that describes the process for creating a municipally controlled corporation in detail. These changes were announced in conjunction with some minor clarifying amendments to language in the MGA through the Statutes Amendment Act, 2018.