Our concern is that this public consultation appears to have been set up to fail. The questions are confusing and impossible for the general public to answer.
Consider the following questions from the survey:
7. Are decisions in the upper-tier municipality made in a timely and efficient manner? Please explain.
9. Are decisions in the lower-tier municipality made in a timely and efficient manner? Please explain.
- What decision making are we talking about?
- Decisions by Regional or Town Councils?
- Decisions by upper management?
- Decisions by middle management or decisions by backroom administrative staff or decisions by front line staff?
And note there is nothing asked about the effectiveness of the decision. They don’t seem to care if the decision is good or bad, just tell us if it is timely and efficient.
Consider this question
14. How might the quality of municipal services be improved or be made more cost effective?
Just think of the scope covered by this question - the quality and cost effectiveness of all services provided at the four lower-tier municipalities and at the Regional level?
How can people answer such a question?
People don’t have the information to provide a meaningful assessment of cost effectiveness.
This is a complicated issue and the structure of regional governments is intricate. Even people who are familiar with the structure will find the questions difficult to respond to in an articulate way.
This attempt at Public Consultation is certainly not intended to welcome the public to participate. We see the exercise as just a box to tick. It will allow the Government to say that they consulted with the public.
Similar in the way that the actual Regional Review is being undertaken...90 working days to review 82 Municipalities and provide recommendations. Crazy.
We Love Oakville will continue to invite the public to make their views known through our letter writing campaign, our lawn sign campaign, and by continuing to invite the public to support our efforts, however they can.
Meetings with our MPPs have been organized. We certainly intend to let the government know what we think of their Review. It just may not be through their Public Consultation.