La communication proposée est une analyse de la jurisprudence de la Commission municipale du Québec (CMQ) afin d’évaluer l’impact des changements législatifs sur le nombre et la nature des exemptions de taxes foncières que peuvent obtenir les organismes sans but lucratif dans le domaine du loisir, depuis les changements apportés en 2000 à la Loi sur la fiscalité municipale; L’analyse a porté sur un échantillon de 460 décisions sur une période s’étendant de 2001 jusqu’à octobre 2005. La catégorisation des secteurs d’activités dans le domaine du loisir n’est pas fondée sur des définitions préétablies par la CMQ ou de quelque autre façon par la loi; elle est le fruit d’un choix éclairé de la part de l’équipe de recherche qui a tenté, au mieux de sa connaissance, de circonscrire certains domaines d’activités du loisir associatif, incluant le sport. Même si un peu moins de deux-tiers des organismes obtiennent une exemption, à peine un sur sept obtient une exemption totale sur l’immeuble qu’il occupe. Les offices et corporations touristiques, les clubs et associations sportives, les centres, clubs et comités de loisir de même que les clubs de l’âge d’or et de la FADOQ se voient refuser l’exemption dans la majorité des cas. Seules les demandes des maisons de jeunes sont unanimement accueillies, mais pas nécessairement pour une exemption totale. Les changements législatifs ont eu un impact pour plus de majorité des demanderesses. Environ un cinquième d’entre elles ont perdu l’exemption qu’elles avaient, mais plus d’un tiers n’avaient pas d’exemption et l’ont obtenue. Là encore, il faut nuancer selon les secteurs d’activités. Les changements ont été profitables pour les organismes nationaux de sports, pour les organismes nationaux de loisir, pour les URLS et, dans une moindre mesure, pour les scouts. Par contre, les changements législatifs ont eu des effets assez négatifs pour les clubs de l’âge d’or et de la FADOQ, pour les clubs et associations sportives car un peu moins de la majorité des demanderesses avaient l’exemption et l’ont perdue. La situation est sensiblement la même pour les centres, clubs et comités de loisir.

Accès au document : B22_Marc_Legros.pdf

Developing a Citizen Advisory Board for a Disenfrancished Community
Beverly Evans, Southeast Missouri State University (Cape Girardeau, USA)

Background A sales tax initiative was passed which included a provision for a new center in a part of town that is economically challenged and under severed. As a new member of the park and recreation advisory and professor of recreation, I was invited to be part of a subcommittee to gather information and input from the disenfranchised community and communicate to the community issues of importance. The initial phase of the project was to help the stakeholders understand the importance of the tax initiate. Although the campaign was successful the community did not support the initiative. Lack of trust was a common theme at public meetings. For presentation I propose to report the experience of a recreation advisory group as they build trust overcome barriers, strengthen citizenship and empower the community. Individual community members and high school students as well as representatives of non profit agencies as well as recreation staff are part of the advisory group.

Access to document: D22_Evans_Beverly.pdf

What gets plans off the shelf? A multi-site case study of the factors that influence municipal recreation plan implementation.
Michelle Walsh, Brock University (Welland, Canada)

Planning encourages a community to envision the future of leisure and recreation services and identify the ways to use its resources to create that vision. Planning can be an effective tool for communities however having a recreation plan is only the beginning as successful planning also means getting the plan off the shelf and implemented. Failure to implement plans has long been considered a significant barrier to effective planning (Berke et al., 2006). Using a multi-site case study approach this study examines the factors that influence plan implementation (the quality of the plan, the capacity of the recreation department, the public support and the political context). Three municipalities who have recently (within 2 years) completed the recreation planning process for their municipal parks and recreation departments are being examined. Key informants (the director of parks and recreation, the planning consultant hired to support the plan development, members of community steering committees and city officials informed of the planning and implementation process) will be interviewed and relevant documents reviewed (final plan, local newspaper articles). Preliminary findings suggest that taking a collaborative approach to implementation where the recreation department, the city council and the community at large have roles to play will help get the plan into action. For example, when a collaborative approach is not taken recreation departments have more difficultly implementing plan initiatives that that require the approval of city council. Having a champion of the plan from each key sector (the recreation department, the city council and the community) is seen as an essential element of implementation. Leadership that results in a greater public awareness of the plan can lead to a public that trusts the planning process and is more likely to support the plan’s implementation. The results of this study will provide practitioners with strategies to negotiate the highly political environment of implementation, as well as fill a gap in the research literature in municipal recreation and urban planning in the area of implementation.

Access to document: D22_Michelle_Waslh.pdf

Leisure Service Practitioners: a call to Resist Dominant Neo-liberal Policies and Practices in the Delivery of Municipal Recreation
Stacey Green, Niagara College (Welland, Canada)

In Canada, all tiers of government have been infused with neo-liberal political and economic theories and policies. Local governments who provide public sector leisure services through municipal recreation and parks departments are no different. Neoliberal policies and practices have been introduced under the guise of necessary government reform and are presented as the ‘common sense’ way to enhance public sector ‘efficiency’ and ‘effectiveness’ (Glover, 1998). The pervasive influence of this now broadly accepted neoliberal doctrine across municipalities is a problem for leisure service practitioners because it runs against their belief that access to recreation is a basic human right and that every individual in Canada has a right to equal access. In reality, when co-opted by municipal management and local council who demand allegiance to their political dogma, practitioners tend to pay lip service to their own ethics as they yield to the power of neo-liberalism. Practitioners are directed to develop business plans to create strategies to market leisure services to ‘customers’ which shifts their focus away from working collaboratively with community groups to find innovative ways to provide affordable and life-enhancing services. The ongoing allegiance of municipalities to neo-liberalism degrades the moral understanding of leisure as an inherent condition required for building social capital and healthy communities. Neoliberalism feeds the ever growing and destructive commodification of leisure and fuels “the division of society into the wealthy elite and the impoverished rest demonstrating the fundamental injustice of capitalism” (K. Boettcher, 2005, p. 155). Citizens have a right to public leisure services; they are part of our cultural commons, and necessary public assets (Bocking, 2003). It is of utmost importance that practitioners protect these services by resisting dominant neo-liberal values, which prioritize the market in all things. We must struggle to retain local government responsibility for the provision of basic leisure services as a right, essential for individual and community health.

Access to document: D22_Stacey_Green.pdf