Hi «Firstname»,
Congratulations on stepping up to make a difference in your community. Many people are content to merely complain but it takes courage to make the commitment and strive for a better future. Thank you.
In the interest of fairness and openness, we want to let you know this email and any responses from it are being shared with five Ontario groups representing many people and a large geographic part of Ontario. Even though the election is in full swing our members are waiting for the final election days and will weigh all factors regarding focus and accountability in their decisions.
We’re sure you’re aware of a general dissatisfaction expressed by many constituents in all parts of Canada this municipal election cycle. The sheer number of candidates may indicate that people want to see change. Additionally, voters are concerned that their current municipal governments are focused on the wrong things and the high and rising taxes are not serving local needs. The Fraser Institute has some excellent reports but this one, called “Where did the Money Go?” is especially telling. A couple of summary comments:
- The slower growth of social and family services (second slowest in all categories) given the social problems afflicting many Ontario cities seems a curious choice of priorities.
- Municipal operating expenditures in Ontario over the period 2000 to 2022 have grown 2.5 times faster than general inflation and double that of population.
- The increase in spending is driven by spending on wages and salaries but not in the manner one might think. Average salaries in the municipal sector for those making more than $100,000 annually since 2000 have grown by only 8 per cent but the number of individuals making those salaries has grown in the thousands of per cent.
Might be some things to look at there.
Scarier still is the downloading of global priorities to Municipalities through grants tied with conditions and reporting requirements.
A great Primer on the Control of Municipal Politics through Global Entities
This video series is relatively short and fully describes how top-down global organizations are controlling local politics. It’s called The Cage of Consent, and is a five-part series by Connie Shields of Unlock Alberta (her whole Substack here). Episode 5 brings it all together.
What Connie asks and what we ask is that you do two things:
- Watch the videos.
- Answer these eight questions:
| 1: | If elected, will you introduce a motion to remove the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as a municipal policy, planning, measurement and reporting framework - and require municipal policies to be established and justified locally rather than by their alignment with the SDGs? |
| 2: | Will you direct administration to identify and publicly disclose every municipal strategic plan, policy, program, KPI, partnership and reporting requirement currently aligned with Agenda 2030 or SDGs? And will you bring those findings back before council in public? |
| 3: | Will you require public disclosure of every municipal membership, commitment, or reporting relationship including ICLEI, U4SSC, C40, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, or any other international or third-party policy network? What commitments were made? What does membership cost? What KPIs are being measured? What data are we reporting? Who authorized our participation? |
| 4: | Before accepting any other government or third-party grant, will you require administration to publicly disclose every condition attached to that money? Reporting requirements KPIs Data-sharing requirements Procurement conditions Policy commitments Any requirement to align municipal plans or programs with an outside framework |
| 5: | Will you require a complete public inventory of the municipality's smart and connected infrastructure, including: RFID Smart meters Cameras Sensors License plate readers Fiber networks Connected streetlights Municipal databases Artificial intelligence systems |
| 6: | Will you introduce a motion requiring meaningful human review before artificial intelligence or an automated system can make or materially influence a municipal decision affecting a person's rights, property, permit, license, benefits, penalties or enforcement? And if an automated system gets it wrong, which human being is accountable? |
| 7: | Will you introduce a motion guaranteeing that the people can continue to access municipal services, facilities and programs using cash and meaningful non-digital alternatives without being penalized for refusing to use a digital system? |
| 8: | If elected, will you promise to put local goals before global ones? Will you swear to this by taking an oath of allegiance to the position and the people rather than a Declaration of Office to serve the king and the municipal/town/city corporation? |
Given the approach of 2030, we believe this may be the most important election not only of our lifetimes, but of our children’s and grandchildren’s too. People are looking for answers and accountability, and so we urge you to reply to this email with your responses – your actions will be shared widely. Feel free to ask for any clarification or content you wish us to expand upon.
Thank you for your attention to this, we are grateful for your consideration and participation.
With kind regards and best wishes for the election,
Christy and Perry Graham
Muskoka Canadians for Truth
www.MuskokaCFT.ca
705-990-0083