Re: item 10.1 Motion on Proposed Amendment to Procedure By-Law: Local Delegations
Dear Mayor and Council,
The motion to limit delegations to Niagara residents, as well as business and property owners and organizations, does a disservice to St. Catharines residents by limiting our minds and depriving council of input from people with specialized knowledge and experience not found within our own city or Region.
The “whereas” clause shows the problem with the motion: delegating to council is not getting a service, rather it is council and the residents who are getting a service by hearing from delegates. The basic philosophy of this motion has politics backwards, as if council is entertaining residents by giving them a sounding board.
There isn't a widespread problem of random residents from outside the City coming to many meetings to sound off on topics the residents aren't interested in. Outside residents who have spoken have done so alongside city residents but added information city residents can't provide because of their expertise.
It is parochial and just plain wrong to think that all the expertise and experience council can benefit from are within the Region.
It's also hypocritical to give non-residents who own businesses here access but not non-residents who have academic and professional expertise. This goes back to the days when business people had two votes, one as residents and one as business owners. This was an undemocratic privilege, though we have more work to do as non-resident property owners also get multiple votes in municipal elections.
Having a business or owning a property are not the only connections to St. Catharines that matter. The world has become increasingly social and connected. There is a saying that what happens in Westminster happens in your house. What happens at St. Catharines council not only affects people beyond the City and Region but is affected by what happens beyond those boundaries too. It's a disservice to yourselves and the residents to deprive yourselves of access.
St. Catharines is unusual in Niagara because of its urban density and has issues not found in other parts of the Region. As St. Catharines grows it will need expertise and experience that can only be found outside the Region, and the residents should be able to bring in these voices to benefit Council's decisions and the residents.
Setting the limits to the Region and not the city is also arbitrary. Someone in Grimsby is just as remote as someone in Stoney Creek but because of the Region's boundaries the former would be allowed but the latter would be excluded under these rules.
What of people who technically live outside Niagara but care for someone in the City or have to be here for extended periods? They would be excluded by this motion's arbitrariness. And what about someone who lived in St. Catharines their whole life but just recently moved to Hamilton (for example), they may have important input into a council decision but the residents would be deprived of that experience because of this motion.
The motion is the wrong solution to something that is not a frequent problem, gets council-delegate relations backwards, and goes in the direction of closing our minds and depriving council and residents of the expertise and specialized experience of those who happen to live outside the Region. It is arbitrary in drawing the line around who has access to council.
Delegations from outside the Region help residents and you, our Council. They aren't an outside interference by people not minding their own business.
Please defeat this motion. Keep your minds open to those who, although they may not live here, can still tell you a lot about what's happening here when you make your decisions.
Thank you,
Saleh Waziruddin (St. Catharines resident)
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