By Pepper Parr
March 11th, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
Here are the facts.
The province lifts the face mask requirement effective March 21st.
Burlington’s City Council will meet on March 22nd.
Since the beginning of the pandemic City Council has been meeting virtually.
Council has been meeting virtually. Will this end on March 22nd?
Will Council meet in public on March 22nd?
Probably not because there is a masking by law in place that they have to revoke first.
However, the municipalities in Ontario deeply resent the fact that they are the creatures of the province and have to do what the province says they have to do.
Will the public actually be able to finally see their elected council waiting to do the public’s business?
Now the question: What are the odds that Council will meet in public on March 22nd with senior staff in the room?
Personally, I first thought of the closing of council chambers to meetings, switching to virtual, in a negative way. But I only thought in terms of the myths of appearances of meetings in Council Chambers, not the reality.
But after the long time it has been virtual I really like it and don’t want to give it up. After experience, I have seen that there are few things I need be in Chambers for, and most of my delegations are great virtually.
The fact is we never had the capacity or capability of having such meetings virtually. Now we do and we should not lose sight of this real change and that it is not going to go away. Let’s stay with this new reality where it is productively adaptive for citizens engagement.
I don’t have to leave home, drive to City Hall, find a parking spot, sometimes have to pay, walk there, sit there for the time it takes for the opening formalities, and then wait for my turn to speak for 10 minutes and may get a question, but not most of the time. Then I wait for questions to staff from Councilors, and the end of my business of interest. The Councilors are busy for the whole meeting.
The fact is I am not needed there most of the time. I will be there if I think I need to be or am asked. I have better uses for my time than to have spend a whole evening basically, with all the travel stuff, to have be there for my 10 minutes of democracy. I could go on and on about other disconnects I have discovered during the pandemic that relate to this matter.
So I support staying in this new virtual era at least with the capacity to continue to do it and to allow a more facilitated citizen participation in the City process. For me, this has been a great experience that is enabling for me and for others to participate in important City matters.
For the Councilors and Mayor, they get elected and get paid, so they have a clear responsibility to be there in person, and the same thing for staff, although a hybrid work plan I would support where appropriate and this would economize on work space needed. A win win situation.
There is nothing to stop keeping virtual Tom but for the diehards like us who feel they want to go back to the familiarity of inhouse delegations and the feeling that you are an active part of the meeting we should have that choice.
Anyone who follows the actions of the Mayor and many of the councilors, will have noticed that they are out and about attending luncheons with multiple people in attendance and taking every opportunity for photo ops etc. Knowing this, it is difficult to believe that they will refuse to return to the council chambers, in order to get down to the serious business of running the city. Hopefully, residents will also be allowed to return to in person delegations regarding many of the important issues on the table.
I think it’s about time Burlington Council gets back to the office. Most people have. The citizens of Burlington pay them to work at City Hall, not in the comforts of their home. Join the rest of us working folk, go to work!