The Montreal Metropolitan Commission (known in French as the ''Commission métropolitaine de Montréal'') was an authority that was involved in municipal affairs affecting the urbanized part of the

Island of Montreal The Island of Montreal (french: Île de Montréal) is a large island in southwestern Quebec, Canada, that is the site of a number of municipalities including most of the city of Montreal and is the most populous island in Canada. It is the main ...

History

When four municipalities (

Montreal North Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

, Saint-Michel, Pointe-aux-Trembles, and Laval-de-Montréal) were approaching bankruptcy, they requested annexation by the City of Montreal.

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, then experiencing a budgetary crisis arising from its annexation of Maisonneuve in 1918, refused to consider this request, unless it annexed the more wealthy municipalities on the Island of Montreal at the same time. As a compromise, the Quebec government established the Island of Montreal Metropolitan Commission in 1921, which was renamed as the Montreal Metropolitan Commission in the following year. The territory over which the Commission had jurisdiction was known as the ''Metropolitan District''. The Commission existed until 1959, when it was replaced by the Montreal Metropolitan Corporation (in French, ''Corporation du Montréal métropolitain''), which was abolished in 1969 on the creation of the

Montreal Urban Community The Montreal Urban Community (MUC) (''Communauté Urbaine de Montréal'' – ''CUM'') was a regional government in Quebec, Canada, that covered all municipalities located on the Island of Montreal and the islands of L'Île-Dorval and Île B ...

Composition

The Commission consisted of 15 members appointed from the following bodies: The following served as chairman of the Commission during its existence:

Functions

Except for the City of Montreal, no member municipality could issue bonds or contract non-temporary loans without the Commission's approval. Any municipality failing to meet its obligations could have its financial affairs taken over by the Commission, and all solvent municipalities were liable for the interest of the debts of the insolvent municipalities. In 1953, the Commission's powers were enlarged to include

expropriation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

Extraterritorial jurisdiction of the City of Montreal

In 1935, the City of Montreal acquired the power to impose

sales tax A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a govern ...

and

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

in the City as well as in the other municipalities under the control of the Commission, and bylaws came into effect on 1 May 1935 for: :* a 2% sales tax on all sales taking place in the specified territory, or on goods being delivered to a person who resides or has a place of business in it, which was the first

retail sales tax A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a govern ...

to be imposed in Canada. :* income tax on every individual having his residence, domicile, or place of business in the specified territory, which was set at 20% of the individual's liability for federal income tax for the previous taxation year. The amounts raised (net of administrative costs) were shared '' pro rata'' with the other municipalities within the Commission's territory. The imposition of sales tax would continue until 1964 (when the province would take over the field), and the municipal income tax would be abolished with the implementation of the Wartime Tax Rental Agreements of 1941.

History

Composition

Functions

Extraterritorial jurisdiction of the City of Montreal

References

Further reading