Council provides strategic direction to municipal staff, on behalf of residents, to determine the policies that shape the present and future of our community. Someone asked me this week how I make decisions on behalf of residents, and the answer was longer than they had time for! So I’ll put it here. Context and ProcedureContinue reading “How Do I Make Decisions?”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
When You Have a Concern About Development
Development is constantly in the news these days, between governments of all levels looking for ways to speed it up to citizens’ and resident groups expressing opposition to particular developments. Brighton is no different: we’ve had some big development proposals lately, and residents have expressed opposition to some of them. I thought I’d address someContinue reading “When You Have a Concern About Development”
Strong Mayors in Brighton?
Brighton is one of 169 municipalities in Ontario that were just given Strong Mayor powers. I have some serious concerns about that, and have seconded a Notice of Motion expressing opposition to it. As I sit down to write this, Consider This released an interview with Mayor Brian Ostrander on the subject, you can listenContinue reading “Strong Mayors in Brighton?”
Confession and Fear in Politics
I’m working my way through the massive catalogue of CBC’s Ideas, and was inspired by an episode featuring Christian philosopher James K A Smith called “Beyond the ‘Culture Wars’: How Mysticism Can Get Us Beyond Polarization.” In it, he associates the “culture wars” with fear: of being misunderstood, alone, and left out; of the other,Continue reading “Confession and Fear in Politics”
Housing Solutions, and the Limits Thereof
There’s been a lot of coverage of proposed housing solutions during this federal election campaign, and that’s hopeful. Mike Moffatt and Justin Ling both have posts that dig in deep enough to explain the difference between them. But there are a few limitations to these plans that I haven’t seen covered, and I have aContinue reading “Housing Solutions, and the Limits Thereof”
Working with Nature
Days 2 and 3 of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Sustainable Communities Conference are in the books! Tomorrow I’m headed home. If I tried to give you a play-by-play of the past two days we’d be here all night. But there were some common themes that came up over and over again, and it’s worthContinue reading “Working with Nature”
Affordable Housing, and Managing Growth
Today is the first full day of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Sustainable Communities Conference, held this year in Fredericton, New Brunswick. It’s been a very busy day, and my mind is buzzing with possibilities for Brighton, but I’ll focus on the two main sessions I attended today. Affordable Housing This morning I attended aContinue reading “Affordable Housing, and Managing Growth”
On Patriotism, and Nationalism
There’s nothing like a common enemy to bring us together, a trope that’s been proven true over the past few weeks as Canadians from across the political spectrum have come together to raise our middle fingers in the general direction of Donald Trump and his 25% tariffs. Calmly and politely, in the Canadian way. ItContinue reading “On Patriotism, and Nationalism”
A New Councillor
On Friday, Brighton Council heard short presentations from nine excellent candidates to fill one open seat on council. We asked each of them questions to draw out their strengths and potential points of comparison between them. Each one of them was and is remarkable: it takes guts, passion, and responsibility to stand for a councilContinue reading “A New Councillor”
Agency and Identity in the Internet Age
Last week I had the pleasure of addressing the Presqu’ile Probus Club, and what follows here is my talk. It’s considerably longer than my usual blog posts; the talk lasted 50 minutes. It was well received there, and I hope it’s useful here as well. _________________________ Today I want to talk about agency and identity.Continue reading “Agency and Identity in the Internet Age”