Citizen democracy

May 27, 2015 · 0 Comments

An historic Town council meeting took place Tuesday night.
While I am writing this letter as a private citizen, I had the privilege Tuesday of presenting a delegation from the citizens’ group, Our Caledon Our Choice. When OCOC was first formed in 2008, its mission was to provide substantiated and well-researched information to the citizens of Caledon so that we could make intelligent choices on issues facing our Town.
I was quite dismayed that another group, created to lobby against the Canadian Tire development site, was claiming to be the voice for Bolton. It was certainly not my voice, or that of many others in my community. So two weeks ago, I asked for Our Caledon Our Choice to reactivate. The purpose was to provide support for the excruciatingly detailed public planning process that the Town goes through in approving development projects. We wanted to ensure that the process remained in the public domain, and to reject the proposal from Peel Region that our Town enter into Provincial facilitation.
Tuesday night, after receiving 12 delegations from citizens, citizen groups and developers, Town council voted unanimously in a recorded vote to reject the need for a Provincial facilitator, and to keep Caledon’s planning process in the public domain. But what was most celebratory about the evening was the Mayor and councillors’ heartfelt thanks for the participation of citizens supporting their dedicated work on our behalf.
Thank you, Town of Caledon. We love living here. Let’s keep getting better.
Skid Crease,
Bolton