Citizen Engagement

Well, I guess this can be considered a blog series; today’s post is the second in a series that I am writing on doing politics differently. In this post I am exploring Citizen Engagement, again from my perspective as a Citizen Servant Leader while sharing my experience as a locally elected official.

I hope that you find it interesting enough to engage in the discussion with me, if not, at least I had the opportunity to flesh out my thinking in this area and my friends don’t have to suffer alone as I share (often against their wishes and will) my thoughts on governance. Enjoy the read...

“Rational discussion is an open, focussed, serious, collaborative dialogue of discovery where you speak so that you can hear. In stating your opinion, you invite others to differ. You listen to their differing views and offer differing views of your own; moreover, you don’t merely exchange views with others; rather, you change your own views. You state your opinions experimentally, for the purpose of testing your thinking and developing your understanding.”

(Howard and Barton: Thinking Together, p. 20, italics theirs)

There has been a lot of discussion in Alberta lately regarding citizen engagement. Most of the discussion has been centred on the lack of meaningful public consultation with quite a few folks that I have discussed this with feeling ‘managed’ during the process. I find that state of affairs to be disturbing and disappointing. Governance should be about finding ways to engage our citizens, not disengage them.

During my years as the Mayor for Hinton our community has found ways to involve our citizens in shaping the future of our community by asking them to step up, come out and get involved with the planning of our community while bringing their perspective and insight to help shape the conversation.

We have asked our citizenry to weigh in on everything from the need (or lack of one) for a transit system in Hinton to the planning and timing of major infrastructure projects. We have asked for and received engagement on almost everything from the design of our Rec Centre Renovation through an Integrated Housing Strategy to our Social Development Strategy. In all cases what we were looking for, and ultimately received, were engaged conversations on the issues at hand so that our administrative team could benefit from the citizen perspective as they prepare background reports so that Town Council could make informed decisions.

Our most recent exercise in Citizen Engagement is an 18 month project to develop our Community Sustainability Plan (CSP). This project is led by a Citizens Advisory Group that is chaired by a local retiree and which is developing a report for our Council that will inform our decision making process for many years to come. Without getting into a lot of detail that is not really relevant to this blog post suffice it to say that our CSP will help us make decisions in a manner that will consider the potential impacts on our social, environmental, economic and cultural pursuits while ensuring that strong governance is the base of all decisions that we make.

Why do I lay all of this groundwork you might ask? While actually it is to share with you my perspective on, and experience with, working within the context of meaningful consultation with our citizenry from a governance context. As an elected leader in my home community I understand the risks associated with open conversation – you don’t always hear what you might want, nor what you might expect. But you must always be open to the conversation if you want to truly represent the interests of those that you were elected to serve.

I believe, and thankfully my belief is shared by my council colleagues that information must flow in every direction, up, down, sideways and crossways. Healthy governance should be based on a constant learning environment. Constant learning and relearning should be a staple for a government that is on a journey of development in which they can evolve and grow.

Leaders should be askers of questions; we should work towards becoming people that facilitate questioning, visioning and problem solving. For much to long leaders have thought that they are expected to solve and answer every question, but I think that the real power lies in asking the questions, stimulating the conversation and being open to hearing all of the responses. A leader in Citizen Participation needs to set a safe environment, one that allows the treasure trove of wisdom that is locked up in each citizen of our province to be opened so that this wisdom can be tapped into and shared.

My vision of a successful Alberta is one in which our government can move from a reactive into a proactive focus on solutions; an Alberta in which meetings are held with our citizens that gives each of us as much say as possible over the issues that affect our lives and our work. One in which everyone’s input and involvement is important and valued.

In our community, my experience has been such that when you ask citizens to come out and talk, and you are willing to listen and act on what we talk about, great things can happen. Meaningful conversation is a method that can be a small, quietly revolutionary method to transform government and governance. I’ve seen it at work, I’ve been privy to its success, and I believe that it can be, and should be, emulated at a provincial and perhaps federal level.

I for one, am willing to work towards creating a province where we celebrate and encourage true, meaningful citizen engagement. That’s the province that I strive towards and I believe that others are seeking the same future. I know this because I’ve seen the engagement and the success at a local level, and I believe that it can and should be replicated across our fine province.

I look forward to the journey of discovery and engagement and meeting you along the way dear reader.