Local Development Centres 1998-2008. A Governance Undergoing Change: Between Citizen Participation and Municipal Accountability/ Les Centres Locaux de Developpement 1998-2008. Une Gouvernance en Mutation: Entre Participation Citoyenne Et Imputabilite Municipale (Part II: Decentralisation: A Fundamental Trend/ PARTIE II: L'indispensable Mouvement de Decentralisation‪)‬

Abstract In December 1997, the Government of Quebec created the Local Development Centres (LDCs). Originally, their mission was to mobilise all local actors in a common approach in order to encourage the development of the economy and the creation of employment on their territories in the context of a partnership between the government and the local community. In December 2003, a new government introduced changes to the legislation that from that moment on, placed the LDCs under the responsibility of elected municipal officials and mandated them to nominate members to the Board of Directors of the organisation. These changes to the enabling legal framework of the LDC have had consequences for citizen participation and for the governance of the organisation--so much as that we can reasonably argue that since that rime there has been a tendency towards the municipalisation of the LDCs.