Ottawa Needs A Residents’ Assembly
By Jake Morrison
The recent reprimand of Rideau-Vanier Councillor Stephanie Plante for violating the Council Code of Conduct points to a deeper problem in Ottawa: the steady erosion of decorum in our policy debates.
Ottawa faces an overwhelming number of pressing issue. And we can meet them but only if we stay focused on solutions. When debate slips into personal attacks or identity-based insults, the conversation stops being about the problem and becomes about the insult. Policy is forgotten. Progress stalls.
The truth is Ottawa has all the talent it needs. Our residents and councillors have the experience, intelligence, and creativity to tackle the challenges ahead. What we lack are the structures to harness that collective wisdom and the discipline to keep our debates focused on ideas, not individuals.
Two steps would help:
- A strong public engagement policy that brings residents’ knowledge and perspectives directly into decision-making.
- A firm stand by councillors against the personal and identity-based attacks that poison debate and distract from shared solutions.
On the structural side, Ottawa should pilot a residents’ assembly: a forum where a representative group of citizens deliberate on a major issue. Citizens’ assemblies have been tested in many countries. The principle is simple: give people the time and tools to grapple with complex questions and they will generate thoughtful, workable answers.
An Ottawa pilot could both tackle a real policy challenge and show us what deliberative democracy can add to our city.
A residents’ assembly would not take power away from Ottawa City Council – it would enrich council’s work with residents’ wisdom.
On the decorum side, council must set the tone. Councillors need the discipline to stick to policy issues, in chambers and on social media alike. With the elevated platforms they hold, their words set the example. Their freedom of expression should be guided by a responsibility to foster solution-focused debate on city policy.
That is how we restore decorum – and with it, the capacity of our democracy to actually get things done.
Jake Morrison is the convenor of the Ottawa Public Engagement Group, a network of residents working toward a more collaborative city.
For You:
Plante Is Never Having To Say You’re Sorry: BENN
Leiper Condemns City Back-To-Office Order
The City Gets Work-At-Home Wrong: MULVIHILL
Plante Should Say She’s Sorry: CRERAR
Cullen Analyzes The Plante Vote At Council
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With all due respect, there are but a handful of councillors with the itelligence and creativity necessary to tackle the challenges ahead.
Some only have experience because they’ve been in their chairs too long .. they’ve brought nothing to the table.
Being the mayor’s “yes person” is a non-starter.
The city, as a whole, is poorly represented as are wards that chose a councillor based on name recognition alone.
I like the concept of resident engagement, however, too many people will want a seat at the table. And who makes the decision as to who is awarded one of the seats. In addition, will anything actually be accomplished? The result might end up looking like offering all those who run in next year’s municipal election a seat in city council. We’d certainly end up with a large variety of opinions and options.
Donna,
I feel that the quality of Council reflects the (lack of) involvement of the citizens.
I also feel that the lack of involvement of the citizens reflects the (lack of) meaningful public engagement from City Hall.
I also feel that the lack of meaningful public engagement from City Hall reflects a culture, in the whole city, that says that citizens have little to contribute to policy & project planning.
It’s a vicious circle.
How can we break it?
Howard, if you look into citizen’s assemblies you’ll find that they always have an open plan for how to pick who gets a seat and it gets shaped to assure all that things are on the up and up. They wouldn’t work very well if we couldn’t trust that process.
Also they are always well facilitated to actually accomplish the goal.
The beauty of them is you do get a wide variety opinions and options and then the group has to agree on what it reports out. That takes discussion & compromise.
Jake,
Once upon a time the city had an amazing process called ‘public participation sessions’ .. the councillor(s) of the ward(s) affected met with residents at a coordinated session. Information was relayed, discussion ensued, feedback was included in reports to committee and council.
Public engagement was vital to the planning function and brought forward residents’ ideas, thoughts, concerns.
Residents didn’t feel blindsided.
Current practice leaves residents (taxpayers) uninformed and voiceless. At some point, disinterest rears its head thereby allowing council to proceed as planned.
Donna, when did we have ‘public participation sessions’ and how did we lose them?