By Pepper Parr
November 17th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
In a recent notice included in the instruction on delegating to a Standing Committee meeting, the Clerk’s Office included the following:
“It is recommended that virtual delegates include their intended remarks, which will be circulated to all members in advance, as a backup to any disruptions in technology issues that may occur. If you do not wish to delegate, but would like to submit correspondence, please email your comments to clerks@burlington.ca. Any delegation notes and comments will be circulated to members in advance of the meeting and will be attached to the minutes, forming part of the public record.”
Old dogs can learn new tricks – but you have to be very firm with them.
For a period of time the City Clerk was requiring delegates to send their delegation before appearing in front of Council. That over-bearing, authoritarian stand appears to have been leavened by the realization that it wasn’t going to work.
For those who might struggle with the word leavened: quality or element that permeates and modifies or transforms something for the better.
Just shows you can teach an old dog new tricks – but you have to keep your eye them all the time.
Screening delegations is about as undemocratic as it gets. The people who advocated the position owes citizens a big apology.
i cant speak for anyone else. But as soon as he left me a message saying he wanted to talk to me about my upcoming delegation he was left a voicemail stating outright that any attempt to control what i would say woukd be a violation of tax payer rights and i would not be tolerating that. Of course he was already in the process of trying to squash my petition. So it was also followed 12 hrs later by a call to the Integrity Commissioners office and then the Ombudsman’s. It may have been in conjunction with the attempts to squash my petitition. But these gross violations of taxpayer rights ought to have been shut down the very first time the clerks office tried to implement them. However standing up to it may have people perceive me, if there is one thing that doesnt fly for me its injustice. When did Burlington citizens become so complacent. All of this needs undoing. I wont hold my breathe. Whats the readership here? Yet theres 4-5 delegates speaking out against this tax hike. Saying we all need to step up doesnt mean looking at your neighbour to do it. It means we all, every one of us, stops being so complacent