Subsidiarity refers to the principle that “all decisions should be made at the lowest level of governing authority competent to deal with them” (Cavanaugh and Mander, 2004). All ‘upper’ (regional, national, global) levels of governance should be set up to protect and enhance local decision making about development. Increasingly, within dominant development, global trade rules, agreements, and related policies advance corporate-driven decision-making at the expense of local people, health and the environment. Examine how the principle of subsidiarity is enhanced and/or hindered in relation to a critical issue in Northern Ontario or elsewhere in Canada through exploring a community organizational effort, relevant development policies and/or identified project initiative.
How is local decision-making actually, or potentially, undermined by global trade rules, or corporate/accumulation-centred regional or national policies?
How do the efforts of an alternative development initiative promote the principfktle and practices of subsidiarity?
