“Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government,

except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

Last week, the Municipality had the pleasure of hosting the Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. During her visit, Her Honour spoke to the Volunteer Appreciation Dinner about the value of democracy, and particularly how important it is on the local level, as it is the level of government that touches lives on an almost daily basis, from garbage collection to stop signs, from baseball diamonds to heritage preservation.

You might recognize the quote above as being from Winston Churchill. The quote forms part of the current exhibition at the Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario called “Speaking of Democracy”, which brings together famous and not-so-famous words about democracy, the role of the electorate and how government should work.

As we move closer and closer to the municipal and school board elections in October, this theme feels extremely important, and is one of the reasons why we’ve created the Local Motive site. One of the other quotes in the exhibition is from Fernando Cardoso, a former President of Brazil, who says “Democracy is not just a question of having a vote. It consists of strengthening each citizen’s possibility and capacity to participate in the deliberations involved in life in society.”

We hope that, through these blogs and podcasts, our citizens can strengthen their capacity to participate by learning more about municipal government, how it works, and how to interact with it. We’ll be trying to ‘explain the why’, rather than just saying ‘this is the answer’, and hopefully help you, the voter, choose which of the candidates running for office in October are best placed to represent the community. If you have ideas for posts, please let us know by e-mailing localmotive@meaford.ca.

Of course, I can’t post about municipal government and democracy without encouraging you to vote in October – it really is the way that you can have a say in what the next four years looks like for the Municipality. Find information on how to vote, including registration for vote by mail, by going to www.meafordvotes.ca.

Matt Smith, Clerk / Director of Community Services

If you have any questions or have any comments about the Local Motive podcast, please email us localmotive@meaford.ca.