#32: Contractual arrangements

Contracts across levels of government are also frequently used in multi-level

Governance can be defined as the various institutionalised modes of social coordination to produce and implement collectively binding rules, or to provide collective goods (Börzel & Risse, 2010,p. 114).

Börzel, T. A., & Risse, T. (2010). Governance Without a State: Can It Work? Regulation & Governance, 4(2), 113–134. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-5991.2010.01076.x

relations to help manage interdependencies and solve some institutional weaknesses. Contracts enjoy a degree of flexibility of use and diversity of application, permitting governments to reorganise rights and duties without requiring a constitutional or legislative change. 

In most countries, contracts function as tools for dialogue, clarifying responsibilities, capacity building,  experimenting and thus for learning.  Impact evaluation should be encouraged, so as to make use of the results in adjusting the policy. Bilateral commitments validated by contracts among levels of government must be as verifiable as possible. Collaboration through contracts makes the need for strategic leadership at the sub-national level even more vital. In the water sector, “river contracts” are intended to develop and restore the multiple functions and uses of water in response to the needs of a community of users, through dialogues between different parties.

The Canada-Ontario Agreement on Great Lakes Water Quality and Ecosystem Health is a federal-provincial agreement that guides the efforts for the restoration and protection of the Great Lakes ecosystem. In particular, the two parties of the agreements are the Canadian government and the one from Ontario, which commit themselves to cooperate and coordinate their actions towards the protection and preservation of the ecosystem of the Great Lakes. The agreement is also used by Canadian federal departments to dialogue with the authorities of the Ontario province to ensure that the country complies with the obligations under the Canada-US Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA).