Entering a thought-provoking chapter
The decisions individuals makes during their lifetimes shape who they become over time, but can the same be said for a community?
In communities, it is typically our leader’s decisions such as allowing construction of a sprawling new neighbourhood, constructing a new hospital, closing a local longstanding business or defining a public input process that will impact the future prospects of the citizens who live there.
Some of these decision makers are leaders of businesses, educational institutions, and not-forprofit organizations so as citizens we have limited influence. But many others in our community are elected by the voters of Niagara.
In a democracy, the balance of power between elected community leaders and its citizens tips regularly through the form of an election and we are provided with an opportunity to exercise our right to decide who can best represent our individual and communities’ best interests.
With two elections set for 2018 — provincial in June and municipal in October — the actions we take as citizens this year will set a new stage in Niagara’s evolving storyline of revitalization.
There is a real energy around civic engagement as groups and opinion leaders step forward in Niagara in a manner that many of us have not seen for several decades. The sentiment that exists today can be somewhat likened to the civil unrest and economic distress of the 1960s. During that time, citizens decided the status quo was not good enough anymore and everyday citizens participated to build a better society alongside some of history’s most inspirational leaders.
On June 30, 1960, then prime minister John G. Diefenbaker said in a speech on the introduction of the Canadian Bill of Rights that “it will declare the principle that every individual, whatever his colour, race or religion, shall be free from discrimination and will have guaranteed equality under the law” and “it will assert the right of the individual and the right of a minority to be protected in the exercise of its rights against the majority.”
On Sept. 6, 1960, John F. Kennedy stated at a campaign speech during the U.S. presidential election, “we are only beginning to sense the impact of automation, machines replacing men, we are only beginning to feel the pressures on our schools and colleges — on the cost of medical care for the aged — on farms caught in a cost-price squeeze — in cities caught in a downward spiral of slums, high taxes, and the flight to outlying areas.”
The issues we face today as a region and continent are not new. Progress has been made on many fronts but it is troubling that speeches that were shared almost 58 years ago are as relevant today in Niagara as they were decades ago.
Are we capable of realizing our economic potential as a binational region in North America?
It is not an over statement to say that 2018 is shaping up to be one of the most thought-provoking chapters in Niagara’s revitalization story.
It appears that our friends and neighbours are engaged in heightened political discussions from living rooms to workplaces to the coffee shops of Niagara with a genuine concern for the collective future of our region.
Where we go next as a region is clearly going to be in the hands of Niagara’s citizens this year with two elections on the horizon.
All can benefit from reflecting upon Tommy Douglas’ (“The Father of Canadian Healthcare”, former Saskatchewan premier and federal MP) statement “courage my friends, ’tis not too late to build a better world ...”