UPDATED September 28, 2006
Text
From the Municipal Campaign Kickoff Press Conference
back to front
: Blair
Penny 1st VP PEI Federation of Labour ; Jean Claude Basque CLC rep for PEI; Mary Boyd MacKillop Center for Social Justice.
Good morning and thank you for being here today
Upcoming Municipal Elections - Charlottetown
-As we all know, decisions taken by civic politicians
fundamentally affect the living standards of all citizens, whether they
be union members or not.
-The budgets of local governments are growing to meet the increasing
needs and demands of the population. The quality of our air, water,
sewage, transportation, recreation, housing and others services is
largely determined by our city council, men and women from our
community.
-More and more municipalities like Charlottetown are faced with new
realities; be it insufficient funding to provide services, increased
poverty, arrival of newcomers, environmental issues due to climate
change, etc.
-Our municipal council will have to take some important decisions in
the near future and ordinary citizens need to be part of these
decisions.
-We need strong and progressive voices on municipal issues and at
municipal council speaking in the interests of workers and their
families. The PEI Federation of Labour, in conjunction with community
groups wish to be a part of those voices.
-Our Federation has decided to get involved in the upcoming November 6,
2006 municipal election in Charlottetown. Our involvement in municipal
politics is the natural extension of our work at the federal and
provincial levels on behalf of workers and their families.
What are we going to do?
Our first activity- was to organize a forum entitled:
Charlottetown, Present and Future challenges for our city. Participants
at this Forum helped us identified key issues we believe are important
for our city.
Our second activity is today -We
want to let the public know that they can make a difference in this
election. The issues identified at the Forum became part of the leaflet
you have in your hand. This leaflet will be distributed throughout
workplaces and community groups in Charlottetown. With this leaflet we
are not telling citizens who to vote for but are asking them to think
about the issues and ask questions to candidates when they meet them.
What are these issues
1- Democracy - More and more citizens want to have a real input in the decisions taken by city council
2- Public services - Public opinion polls show that Canadians
overwhelmingly believe that their local government should handle public
services not private companies. We are certain that Islanders also
agree.
3- Poverty - There is poverty in our city. Perhaps its not always
visible but we know that many workers are living on wages that
don’t necessarily cover even their families basic needs and a lot
of citizens on fixed income are certainly having a hard time making
ends meet.
4- Environment- Our city is faced with some pressing environmental
issues, be it pesticides, parks, cruise ships, transportation, etc. We
believe the environment is an issue that will need more and more
attention in the next four years
5- Newcomers - As our population ages, our society will rely more and
more on newcomers. Charlottetown needs to do its utmost to make them
feel welcome as they become accustomed to their new city.
Our third activity will be the endorsement process - We
believe that candidates should be open and tell the voters what they
stand for and what they are going to work for at city hall. To know
them and their intentions better, we intend to meet with all the
candidates that are interested in meeting with us and ask them a number
of questions that are linked to the issues that have come out of our
recent forum. At the end of this process, we will produce an
endorsement card where we tell the public who we believe would make a
good councilor.
-This card will again be distributed throughout the workplaces and community groups in Charlottetown.
Finally, this endorsement card will also be the basis for following the
decisions and actions taken by the councilors who were endorsed.
1. We believe
that by our involvement in this manner we will increase the interest of
Charlottetown citizens in the November election.
2. We also believe that our participation in this election will help citizens make better choices because they will have a chance to discuss with their co-workers and their families some very important issues.
3.We are certain that after this process, we will have a better and new city council on November 6th.
Thank you and we are open for questions
The Municipal Campaign Endorsement Press Conference
Putting Citizens First Charlottetown Municipal Election Pamphlet
Report From the Charlottetown, Present and Future Challenges for our City Forum
Press Release Main
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