Metro’s General Government was composed of its Chairman of Council, the Council Administration (the Executive Director and Secretary’s Department), the Law Department (including Claims), and the Information Research Officer. In 1963, the Personnel Department was transferred from the Finance Division to General Government under the supervision of the Executive Director. During the Metro Decade, Council was led by three Chairman: Richard H.G. Bonnycastle (1960-1966), interim Chairman Lawrence E. Ostrander (1966), and Jack Willis (1966-1971). Metro’s first Chairman was appointed by the Provincial Government for a four-year term. As of 1964, Chairmen were elected by Council. The Chairman of Council decided how the Corporation discharged its responsibilities as assigned to them by the Metropolitan Winnipeg Act. The Chairman discharged these responsibilities to the Executive Director: Elswood F. Bole (1960-1965), J.R. McInnes (1965-1969), and D.I. McDonald (1969-1971). The Executive Director, as Metro’s chief administrative officer, was accountable to the Council. Consequently, he ensured that Council’s instructions were carried out. The Executive Director delegated these instructions to Metro’s divisions. In addition to supervising the divisions, Metro’s Solicitor, Secretary and Information Research Officer were also accountable to the Executive Director.

Series consists of reports, correspondence, plans, briefs, petitions, biographical sketches, photographs, statements and speeches, press releases, studies, legal agreements, staff newsletters, pamphlets, union agreements, organizational charts, and Metro Christmas cards. The series documents the functions of individual positions or offices within the General Government structure, as well as the overall organization and administrative functions of the corporation. Records related to personnel activities and Metro events (including its first anniversary) are also documented throughout the series.

Series includes multiple filing systems and maintains the original order of the records based on their creation or collection by General Government offices and staff. Legal agreements were kept in chronological order based on numbers assigned to each agreement. Series includes an incomplete set of agreements from no. 497-1743. Chronological files were kept in the Chairman’s office starting in 1965. These files documented outgoing correspondence and contain related attachments in reverse-chronological order. Reading Files were kept by the Corporation’s secretary and were compiled by month and year, also in reverse-chronological order. The remaining records in the series were compiled into folders based on the office that created or collected them, followed by a sub-heading based on the function to which each folder related (for example, Personnel Department – Biographical Sketches).

The Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg Review Commission (also known as the Cumming Commission) was created on October 2, 1962 through an Order-in-Council (No. 1250/62) to investigate the relationship between Metro and area municipalities in terms of finances, government form and structure, and boundaries, to improve inter-governmental relationships. The Commission held several public hearings in April 1963 where citizens were allowed to present and individuals, associations and representatives from various municipalities were invited to submit briefs. While the Commission believed that the Metro government structure was beneficial for the municipalities, they did make recommendations related to taxes, levies, Metro’s jurisdiction over municipalities, and the additional zone. They also recommended that Metro establish four year terms for its Chairman and council members effective as of 1964.

Series consists of the Commission’s report and recommendations, briefs and rebuttals from individuals and organizations, a submission to the commission by Metro, as well as records created by Metro to prepare for the Commission, including correspondence, inter-office memos, research material and reports.

Series consists of reports, statements, press summaries, submissions, correspondence and interdepartmental memos. It documents the development of a report on revenues and taxation that aimed to investigate new methods of distributing costs between the municipalities under Metro’s jurisdiction in a fair and equal way. The report was submitted by Dr. Gordon Blake, professor of Economics at the United College in Winnipeg, and Carl Goldenberg, a Montreal lawyer and economist with experience as a consultant in municipal financial matters.

Series consists of bound council minutes that record council motions related to by-laws, communications, appointments as well as the establishment and regulation of committees and functions regarding parks, water, public transportation, civil defence, planning and assessment, and others.

The volumes are arranged chronologically. In most cases, two books were produced annually documenting meetings held between January and June and July and December. Meeting minutes from 1960 begin with Metro’s inaugural meeting held on November 1 of that year and continues to the end of June. An index can be found in the first book of a given year. With the exception of the 1963 minutes, each volume has a number printed on its spine. The first four volumes are assigned numbers I to IV. Beginning in 1964, each book documenting the period from January to June is annually identified as “book 1” and followed by “book 2” for the July to December period.

The records consist of one complete set of original and signed meeting minutes and one sub-series.

Series consists of reports, correspondence, plans, promotional materials, unbound meeting minutes, and proposals created and kept by Metro committees and sub-committees, as well as liaison committees formed between Metro and external organizations. Series documents activities related to sinking funds, retirement, property, grants administration, development of a Metropolitan police force, Pan-Am Games, Canadian centennial (1967) and provincial centennial (1970).

Most records are arranged by committee or sub-committee and then in reverse-chronological order to reflect the original order as maintained by Metro’s Executive Director and Chairman of Council. As various committees were responsible for centennial planning and shared certain functions, their records were compiled into thematic folders. Consequently, files related to both the provincial and federal centennial maintain this organization, rather than the committee-based organization found throughout the rest of the series.

The Local Government Boundaries Commission was established by the Provincial Government in 1966 and concluded in 1970. It investigated the local governmental structures within the metropolitan area and identified areas that could be improved. Overall, the commission found that the two-tiered government system functioned well enough to continue. However, the government rejected the Commission’s conclusions were rejected a year after they were published, a decision which led to the creation of Unicity in 1971.

Series consists of correspondence, inter-office memos, submissions, statements, and briefs documenting the commission’s proceedings as they relate to the Metro government.

Series consists of correspondence, reports, itineraries, and research concerning the study of municipal government in North America and England. This material includes research on Metropolitan Toronto that was compiled in the years leading up to the creation of the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg. Series documents communications between Metro and other Metropolitan governments (Toronto, Montreal, and Dade County, Florida), Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton, Greater London Council, and the Corporation of the City of London, England. The governance, administration and public perceptions of these municipalities are recorded as well.

Forms part of Fonds 14. Subseries consists of correspondence, reports, memos, photographs and various records generated or received by various entities. Files are organized by topic.