MPA Major Research Papers
Date of Award
7-1-2020
Degree Type
Major Research Paper
Degree Name
Master of Public Administration
Program
Political Science
Supervisor
Carol Agocs
Geographical Areas
Ottawa, Canada, The United States, Europe
Abstract
With the wave of New Public Management, privatization of services in the public sector became a popular choice among government managers who believed this would improve the quality of services while also lowering costs. This turned out to not always be the case, and municipalities have slowly begun to turn towards the remunicipalization of services that were once contracted out. The purpose of this research paper is to take a Canadian case of remunicipalization and analyze what the primary reasons were for remunicipalization. The city of Ottawa served as the case example and the research paper identified that the City decided to remunicipalize a portion of residential solid waste collection services in 2011 because it could perform the service at a lower cost, improve the quality of service, and allow the municipality to have more control over the service. Ottawa possessed similarities and differences with global trends of remunicipalization, however, each case of remunicipalization will always be unique depending on its specific circumstances and should be studied on an individual level to understand how the decision was made. It is encouraged that more research be conducted on remunicipalization in order to shine more light on the benefits that it can offer municipalities.
Recommended Citation
Coppola, Stephen, "Going Back: The Case for Remunicipalization: Analyzing the Ottawa Case to Understand Why Municipalities May Remunicipalize a Service Instead of Choosing Another Private Contractor" (2020). MPA Major Research Papers. 198.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/lgp-mrps/198