Why Local?
Strong Local Voices, NOT Strong Mayor Powers
While developing our Municipal Reform Project, we’ve heard from hundreds of people across Ontario.
People are extremely frustrated with all levels of government on a litany of grievances, be that because of economic struggles enflamed by our government’s actions or inaction, the housing market becoming unobtainable, even for renters, or the growing inflation and shrinkflation of all our goods and necessities.
With all these growing concerns, a common question we’ve encountered is “Why local?” People want to know why we’re focused on reforming municipal government when the rot appears to be coming from further up the political food chain, be that Justin Trudeau or Doug Ford.
We often forget our municipalities provide and manage many of the services we use most, and that affect us more immediately. Some of these services include; but not limited to:
• Police, fire, and paramedic services
• Road maintenance and snow removal
• Municipal landfills, waste diversion, recycling, and garbage pick-up*
• Libraries
• Animal control
• Business and lottery licensing
• Economic development
• Housing development
• Municipal water and waste water treatment and management*
• Regional school boards
• Hospital boards
• Local ordinances and by-laws
• Fines, property taxes, and other fees
Those are a lot of responsibilities that impact our daily lives.
Simply put, if we cannot effect change at the local level, we have no chance of making change provincially or federally. Only when we come together as communities first, can we clearly express our will to the “higher powers”. Power is given from the bottom up, not from the top down.
Politics is rife with “divide and conquer” ideology. Party ambitions, left-right alignments, are put ahead of public interest, and we are used as pawns, intentionally being divided into separate sides of the same chess board, pointing fingers and tossing labels at each other while solving nothing in the process. Facts and truth have become irrelevant to the ambitions for power and control. By ensuring each side is talking at each other, rather than with each other, they secure their control.
Why does this matter? Throughout history, our greatest problems have been solved when those with divergent views come together and share their ideas for solving a problem, coming to an agreement on a ‘best path’, and uniting behind that plan to solve the problem. They come together because they were all part of the process, participated and/or observed the decision making, and understand the conclusion drawn and the path chosen.
Ontario’s Premier, Doug Ford, introduced, then recently expanded his “Strong Mayor” powers to about 60 municipalities across the province (so far). What does this do? It allows the mayor to make decisions without the consent of, or even consulting with, the rest of your elected council. Essentially, in order to expedite his province-wide agenda, and ensure compliance, he has turned these municipalities from subjects of the province to puppets of his provincial government. Now, many local decisions in these communities will be made at or strong-armed by Queen’s Park, instead of your local town or city hall. This mutes local residents’ voices, and consolidates local power into Toronto.
Federal and provincial jurisdictions are defined in our Constitution; our municipal governments fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the provinces, and are subject to the edicts and authorities handed to them by the governing provincial party. The Premier has the Constitutional authority to impose such an edict, but is it moral or ethical to circumvent our elected representatives on local councils?
So, why local?
Emily Dickinson famously said “If you take care of the small things, the big things will take care of themselves.” When we can demonstrate and express our collective will at the local level, the other levels will have no option but to acknowledge they are no longer operating unfettered and unsupervised. We must regularly remind our representatives that the public interest comes before party interests or personal ambitions. They will be on notice that they work for us, we don’t work for them, and that must start in our local communities.
Join us as we reignite local power in our local governments.
* Services managed by most municipalities, but exceptions apply.