“We’ve never been so divided.” I have heard that phrase more times than I can count, recently. It’s bad enough that we hear examples of polarization so often in American news, but it’s much worse that we see so many examples of it here in Canada. It seems that our political rhetoric is increasingly negative,Continue reading “Polarization in Canada”
Tag Archives: Ontario politics
Councillor Training & Conferences
The last few weeks there’s been some local controversy over increases in the municipal budget related to the role of councillors. The Committee of the Whole ultimately passed a pay increase for councillors that collectively amounted to ~$30k, but it was noted that the overall council budget increased by ~$60k. The rest of the increaseContinue reading “Councillor Training & Conferences”
Responsibility to Enforce
Do municipalities have a responsibility to set and enforce bylaws? I’m currently taking a few courses in municipal law to better understand our bylaws and how we enforce them. I’m quickly discovering that, despite the fact that laws are written in the most exhaustively boring way possible in order to avoid any confusion, interpretation isContinue reading “Responsibility to Enforce”
Housing and Homelessness in Northumberland
Two weeks ago I was a speaker at the Northumberland Community Legal Centre’s annual Justice Forum, where the topic this year was homeless encampments. I brought a perspective from inside municipal government, talking about government as multiple overlapping systems each with their own jurisdictional distinctions and resource flows — a system of systems that, despiteContinue reading “Housing and Homelessness in Northumberland”
Multiple Representation in Politics
In my day job as a REALTOR®, “multiple representation” refers to when the same agent or brokerage represents both sides of a transaction. It’s an important issue, because when the same agent represents two parties at the same time they have opportunities for a conflict of interest, or simply favouring one side over the other.Continue reading “Multiple Representation in Politics”
What’s a Wetland?
2023 in Brighton municipal politics has been dominated by one development proposal. We held public meetings in January to get a look at the proposal, and the matter will finally be defined this week, on December 11th. I don’t normally talk about matters that are currently being considered, and I’m not here to talk aboutContinue reading “What’s a Wetland?”
Property Value
Two things came up in Northumberland in the past week about property value. One was a training session our council had about the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) and how they determine assessment for our tax rolls; the other was concerns about property value suffering from stigma associated with the increase of visible homelessness andContinue reading “Property Value”
Year One
It’s been a year since this council was sworn in, and what a year it’s been! I started this blog during a campaign in which I focused on Vision, Communication, and Collaboration, and I feel like those have been central to the way that council has operated so far. My Highlight The End of 2022Continue reading “Year One”
Housing and Finance
In the last few posts I quoted the former Deputy Mayor of Toronto, who pointed out that there are three things you need to get housing built: “You need the approvals, you need the people to build these things and you need a way to finance it…Right now, we’re having issues in all three.” We’veContinue reading “Housing and Finance”
Housing Hurdles: Labour and Materials
In the last post I quoted the former Deputy Mayor of Toronto, who pointed out that there are three things you need to get housing built: “You need the approvals, you need the people to build these things and you need a way to finance it…Right now, we’re having issues in all three.” The FordContinue reading “Housing Hurdles: Labour and Materials”