The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) has launched a new program they hope will help add the average Canadian voice into the development of federal political platforms.
The Hometown Proud campaign kicked off Tuesday during the group's annual Advocacy Days meetings on Parliament Hill.
The campaign is focused on collecting stories from across the country online at hometownproud.fcm.ca about how people are connected to their hometowns. Between now and Jan. 13, the people who submit the best English and best French stories and photos will be eligible to win two roundtrip tickets to bring friends or family home for a visit.
"What we want to do going into the [federal] election next year is get the messages out from communities across Canada that need to be heard in the election," said Prince George councillor Garth Frizzell, who is in Ottawa this week for the meetings with MPs and cabinet ministers as member of FCM's board of directors.
The FCM's mandate is to align the local and federal priorities, but Frizzell said Hometown Proud will provide a new level of engagement that isn't just elected officials speaking to other elected officials.
"This time we're making this very concerted effort to not just have the representatives forming policy and agreeing on policy, but actually to reach out to individual Canadians," Frizzell said. "We're leveraging technology to get actual voices of the people straight from where they're living to the federal government, through the lens of their communities."
The campaign also helps filter the work FCM is already doing through those lenses, said Frizzell, who chairs the group's finance and intergovernmental relations committee.
Reforming the way the municipalities are funded has been a major sticking point for local government groups, given that they are currently stuck to generating the bulk of their revenue through property taxes.
But there are other elements that affect local taxpayers, such as the new trade agreement between Canada and the European Union.
"What we try to do isn't just to go out and get the fair share of taxes, we also try to protect the community and individuals in the community by looking at these things before they go into action, looking at trade agreements, looking at how they'll impact the local government," said Frizzell.
One of those effects is on procurement - the purchasing of supplies, contracting of projects, etc. - which would apply to municipalities under the new agreement.
"If we had to follow the original text of the agreement, then we might be looking at making our procurement opportunities available to European countries at thresholds much lower than they are now," Frizzell said of the effect on Prince George. FCM asked the federal government to consider a change to the World Trade Organization levels, which would limit opening procurement until a contract was in the range of $300,00. "Imagine if we had to put all of our procurement out to bid anywhere in the world. We could potentially be liable for more legal issues than is reasonable to deal with for small procurement opportunities."
FCM understands that hometowns are what drives the country forward, said FCM president Brad Woodside, in a media release. "Hometowns create local jobs and local growth; they foster quality of life, and promote safe and sustainable communities."
