Our best hope for Heritage, Housing Affordability, and Climate Change: a responsive new City Council respectful of public input and democratic process.

Good Governance Group
www.goodgovernancestratford.ca 

Who are we?

Good governance Stratford is a group of citizens who are deeply concerned about protecting and enhancing democratic process and municipal government. We are from different political backgrounds; what brings us together is our passion for participatory democracy.

Why have we formed?

“Stratford City Council has been selected as the 2021 recipient of the code of silence award for outstanding achievement in government secrecy“

(Center for Free Expression, Toronto Metropolitan University)

This “achievement“ is the result of City Council’s approach to decision making, characterized by in camera (or secret) meetings and failure to disclose important information to the public. Indifference and secrecy defined council’s handling of the Xinyi glass plant, it’s lack of responsiveness to strong neighborhood objection to the Chancery Queen Trow development, its lack of responsiveness to the Business community’s concerns about the accommodation tax, and its refusal to enable voting rights for Stratford‘s renters.

Stratford deserves better

How do we achieve this end?

Insure equal opportunity to vote for everybody, including renters

Public consultation comes first and informs council decision making rather than following it

Reduce and, where possible, eliminate in-camera decision making and the use of nondisclosure agreements

Disclose pressure that interest groups outside the community may bring the bear on us

Use plain English in meetings to describe issues/procedures council is dealing with

Pay people the respect of responding to them when they make submissions to us

Set up mechanisms, like Townhall meetings and a public website, that informs citizens in good time of important issues the city has to deal with

Ensure that city staff acts in concert with the wishes of the public, not in opposition to them

What are we doing for the 2022 municipal election?

Stratford deserves a City Council that is committed to the principles of participatory democracy. To help make this happen, we have interviewed many of the candidates running for office and have identified 8  who are committed to the core values of openness, transparency, accountability, and engagement with the public.

Fuller profiles of each of these candidates are available on our website.

Want to help? DONATE by

-transfer to donate3g@gmail.com