Accessibility is an incredibly important issue, and one that’s often poorly understood. What is accessibility, and how does it play out in a small town context? How does our municipality address it? What does Accessible mean? Accessibility, at its core, is about who gets included. The Brighton Accessibility Committee, which just had our first 2023Continue reading “Accessibility”
Tag Archives: Ontario politics
The Politics of Snow Removal
Some people think that Canada’s national sport is hockey; I think I was in my 20’s when I was told that it is, in fact, lacrosse. Turns out it’s both. (Yup, there’s a law for that.) But whatever our national sport is, I think it almost goes without saying that our national pastime, official orContinue reading “The Politics of Snow Removal”
Thinking Big in a Small town
We have a tendency to downplay small towns. The tropes are maybe just true enough to persist: small town folks, the story goes, are sheltered from the big wide world; nothing ever happens in a small town, and young people need to escape to experience the world; and even in reverse, there are a thousandContinue reading “Thinking Big in a Small town”
ROMA Wrapup
After just two nights and three busy days away, my brain took the rest of the week off. Apparently I’m not a young man anymore. The last day of the Rural Ontario Municipal Association 2023 conference was light on learning sessions, and the plenary sessions were sparsely attended as delegates left early. Too bad; theyContinue reading “ROMA Wrapup”
ROMA Conference 2: Waste & Energy
Day 2 of the ROMA conference had lots of learning, and some lovely pushback on bad policy. Morning Session: Beyond the Blue Box & the Circular Economy In this morning’s session, our MPP and Environment Minister, David Piccini, gave some details and promotion for a transition from government-run recycling centres to privately run recycling centres.Continue reading “ROMA Conference 2: Waste & Energy”
Bill 23 and Why It Matters, pt 3
This is the final part of a 3-part series. See parts 1 and 2 for the rest of the story. The text of Bill 23 is here. Undermining Municipalities, Imposing Sprawl We’ve already seen how the Province is consolidating its power to overrule virtually everyone, and how they defunded CAs back in 2020; Bill 23Continue reading “Bill 23 and Why It Matters, pt 3”
Bill 23 and Why It Matters, pt 2
This is the second post in a 3-part series, because there was just too much to cover in one. Read more about it in part 1 here, or part 3 here. The text of Bill 23 is here. Gutting Environmental Protections, Opening the Greenbelt Doug Ford has been talking about opening the Greenbelt for years.Continue reading “Bill 23 and Why It Matters, pt 2”
Bill 23 and Why It Matters
Ontario Bill 23 was introduced on October 25th. A bill gets three “readings”, or opportunities for MPPs to debate it, and is often sent to appropriate committees in between for revision. It passed Second Reading on Halloween, and is currently at the Standing Committee on Heritage, Infrastructure and Cultural Policy. That means there’s a chanceContinue reading “Bill 23 and Why It Matters”