Owen Sound: A Four-Year City Business Plan

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The Foundation

Chapter 2The Owen Sound Civic Covenant

2,771 words · Mike Seiler · Owen Sound, Ontario

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Before discussing budgets, roads, development, taxes or programs, we should establish the principles that govern how the City treats people.

Policies will change.

Technology will change.

Councils will change.

Economic conditions will change.

The basic relationship between a person and government should be much more durable.

This Covenant begins with the belief that human dignity exists before government recognizes it. Government does not create the worth of a person, the importance of a family, the freedom of conscience or the responsibilities we carry toward one another.

Canadian law gives legal expression to many of these principles through constitutional rights, human rights legislation, due process, democratic government and the rule of law. This plan will operate within those legal protections while also recognizing an older moral tradition that regards human beings as possessing inherent worth and responsibility.

For me personally, that understanding is deeply informed by Scripture.

That is a statement of conviction, not a requirement imposed on anyone else.

A resident should never need to share the Mayor's faith, politics, philosophy or personal beliefs to receive equal treatment from the City of Owen Sound.

This Covenant therefore establishes ten principles that should remain above ordinary political disagreement.

2.1Human Dignity

Every person has inherent worth.

That worth does not depend upon:

Government should never reduce a person to a number, a case file, a tax account, a problem to be managed or a collection of personal information.

Municipal systems sometimes need numbers.

People are not numbers.

A person applying for a permit is a neighbour trying to accomplish something.

A senior calling City Hall is a neighbour looking for help.

A person experiencing homelessness remains a neighbour.

A business owner frustrated with a municipal decision remains a neighbour.

A person protesting City Hall remains a neighbour.

A municipal employee raising a concern remains a neighbour.

A councillor who strongly disagrees with the Mayor remains a colleague serving the same community.

This does not mean everyone will receive the outcome they want.

Government sometimes has to say no.

By-laws must sometimes be enforced.

Taxes must be collected.

Unsafe conditions must be corrected.

Conflicts between competing rights and interests must be resolved.

The commitment is that these decisions will be made without stripping anyone of their dignity.

The Dignity Standard

Every municipal service should ask:

  1. Is the person being treated respectfully?
  2. Does the person understand what is happening?
  3. Have we explained why a decision was made?
  4. Is there a reasonable opportunity to correct an error or provide missing information?
  5. Are we applying the same standard we would apply to someone with greater influence or resources?

The strength of a public institution is often revealed by how it treats the person with the least power in the room.

2.2Personal Autonomy

A free society begins with the assumption that adults are generally capable of making lawful decisions about their own lives.

Municipal government should therefore require a legitimate public reason before interfering with personal choice.

The question should not be:

Can the City regulate this?

The better first question is:

Does the City need to regulate this?

Where regulation is required, the City should use the least intrusive reasonable approach capable of accomplishing the public purpose.

This principle applies to:

Personal autonomy is not unlimited.

One person's freedom does not include the right to seriously endanger another person, damage another person's property, prevent neighbours from enjoying their own lawful rights or ignore valid laws enacted for legitimate public purposes.

Autonomy and responsibility belong together.

The Least Intrusive Government Test

Before introducing a new restriction, Council should consider:

  1. What specific harm are we addressing?
  2. Is the harm demonstrated or merely assumed?
  3. Does the City have jurisdiction?
  4. Could education or voluntary compliance solve the problem?
  5. Could a narrower rule work?
  6. Could an existing rule be enforced instead?
  7. What lawful choices remain available after the restriction?
  8. How will the rule affect people who are least able to adapt?

Freedom should not disappear merely because regulation is convenient.

2.3Family

Families carry responsibilities that government cannot and should not attempt to replace.

Families raise children.

Families care for aging parents.

Families support people through illness, unemployment, grief and transition.

Families transmit traditions, values, memories, language, skills and faith.

Families also take many different forms in the daily life of a Canadian community.

Municipal government does not need to settle every cultural or philosophical disagreement about family life in order to respect the importance of the family.

It can begin with something much more practical:

City policy should make it easier, not harder, for people to care for one another.

That principle should influence:

The Family Impact Question

For major municipal proposals we should ask:

Not every policy will affect families equally.

The obligation is to remember that a municipal decision that appears small on paper can create significant consequences around a kitchen table.

2.4Faith and Conscience

Canada contains people of many faiths and people of no religious faith.

Owen Sound should remain a community in which people are free to live peacefully according to conscience within Canadian law.

That includes freedom to:

The City should neither impose religion nor treat religion as something that must be removed from public life.

A church, synagogue, mosque, temple, faith-based charity or other religious organization should be eligible to participate in community life under fair standards just as a secular organization should be.

Municipal partnerships should be based on the public service being provided, not agreement with the organization's theology.

If public money supports a generally available community service, access to that service should not depend on participation in religious worship or accepting a particular belief.

At the same time, organizations should not be asked to deny their religious identity merely to participate in civic life where the partnership can operate lawfully and fairly.

The Conscience Standard

The City should not ask:

Do we agree with this person's belief?

It should ask:

Is the person acting lawfully, and are we applying the same public rules fairly?

A free community should have room for deep disagreement without requiring neighbours to abandon their convictions.

2.5The Home

The home deserves particular respect from government.

It is where people raise children, practise faith, care for family members, rest, gather privately and conduct much of ordinary life.

Government does have legitimate responsibilities that sometimes reach into private property.

These include matters such as:

But the existence of municipal authority does not mean intrusion should become routine.

The Home Standard

Where government proposes to interfere with lawful life inside a private home, the City should be able to answer:

  1. What is the specific public concern?
  2. What legal authority permits the action?
  3. Is entry or inspection genuinely necessary?
  4. Has reasonable notice been provided where circumstances permit?
  5. Is the action proportionate?
  6. Is the information collected limited to what is actually required?
  7. Is there a less intrusive alternative?

The home should not be treated as another branch of municipal administration.

2.6Freedom of Expression and Civil Disagreement

A community that cannot disagree peacefully cannot govern itself well.

People will disagree about:

That disagreement is not a municipal failure.

It is part of democratic life.

Our task is to prevent disagreement from becoming contempt.

The campaign commitment that began this plan is simple: issues rather than personal attacks, equal treatment of candidates and an effort to compete on leadership without treating political opponents as enemies.

That principle should continue after the election.

The Goodwill Standard

When disagreement occurs:

Goodwill does not require weakness.

A Mayor should be able to disagree strongly.

Council should be able to vote.

Residents should be able to organize.

Staff should be able to defend professional advice.

The objective is not universal agreement.

The objective is a community strong enough to disagree without destroying relationships.

2.7Equal Civic Belonging

The City belongs equally to people who voted for the Mayor and people who did not.

It belongs to people who have lived here for generations and people who arrived this year.

It belongs to homeowners and tenants.

It belongs to families and people living alone.

It belongs to business owners, employees, retirees, students and people currently unable to work.

Municipal services cannot become rewards for political agreement.

The Equal Service Principle

No resident should receive better or worse municipal treatment because of:

Where Canadian and Ontario law establish protected rights and equality obligations, the City must respect them.

Beyond the minimum legal requirement, Owen Sound should build a culture in which residents know that City Hall belongs to them even when they disagree with the people currently running it.

Majority Rule Has Limits

Democracy requires elections and majority decisions.

Constitutional democracy also recognizes that some fundamental protections cannot properly depend on whether the majority happens to approve of them.

A municipal vote should not be used to determine whether an individual receives equal treatment under the law.

It should not substitute for required due process.

It should not eliminate protected rights.

It should not decide the guilt, employment discipline or personal legal rights of an individual.

It should not authorize something outside municipal jurisdiction.

Resident participation is strongest when the boundaries are understood.

The people should have a powerful voice in public policy.

Individuals should still have rights when they find themselves in the minority.

2.8Responsibility

Rights are essential.

So are responsibilities.

A healthy community cannot survive if every person insists upon personal freedom while expecting someone else to carry every shared burden.

Residents have responsibilities toward one another.

Businesses have responsibilities.

Property owners have responsibilities.

Visitors have responsibilities.

Government has responsibilities.

Civic Responsibility Includes

Government must model the behaviour it expects from residents.

If we ask residents to keep property maintained, the City should maintain its own.

If we expect residents to meet deadlines, the City should publish its own.

If we expect businesses to provide accurate information, City Hall should do the same.

If we penalize late payment, we should pay our own suppliers promptly.

If we ask residents to follow rules, those rules should apply consistently to government as well.

Responsibility is reciprocal.

2.9Stewardship

Ownership and stewardship are different ideas.

Ownership asks:

What can I do with this?

Stewardship asks:

What am I responsible for preserving?

Municipal government should think like a steward.

A road represents decades of public investment.

A tree planted today may shade a child who has not yet been born.

A public building may have been paid for by taxpayers who are no longer alive.

A waterfront is inherited from one generation and passed to another.

A database created for one municipal purpose may still contain personal information decades later.

Debt taken on today may be paid by residents who had no vote when the decision was made.

Stewardship therefore applies to:

The Stewardship Rule

Before creating something new, ask whether we are properly caring for what we already have.

Before disposing of something old, ask whether we understand its value.

Before taking on debt, ask who will repay it.

Before collecting information, ask why we need it.

Before entering a long contract, ask how the next Council gets out of it.

Before accepting a grant, ask who pays when the grant ends.

Before announcing a major project, calculate maintenance and replacement.

This is not resistance to progress.

It is how progress survives.

2.10Future Generations

A four-year election cycle is short.

A city is not.

Some of Owen Sound's most important decisions will outlive every member of the Council that makes them.

Infrastructure can last generations.

Debt can last decades.

Land-use decisions can permanently change neighbourhoods.

A lost waterfront opportunity may never return.

Poorly designed development can create costs for future taxpayers.

Well-designed trails, parks, streets and public spaces can continue creating value long after their original cost has been forgotten.

Young people therefore deserve more than occasional consultation.

They deserve consideration in the economics of every major decision.

The Generational Test

For major long-term decisions, Council should ask:

  1. What obligation does this create ten years from now?
  2. What obligation does it create twenty-five years from now?
  3. Are we consuming an asset or improving it?
  4. Are future residents receiving something of lasting value for the debt or obligation created?
  5. Are we preserving reasonable choices for the next generation?
  6. Are we transferring an environmental, infrastructure or financial problem forward because solving it today is politically difficult?
  7. Would we make the same decision if the final payment came from our own children?

Students and young residents should also have opportunities to participate directly in building the community they will inherit.

The existing plan already proposes paid student mapping and leadership work so that local knowledge and community leadership are deliberately transferred to a new generation.

That principle will continue throughout this business plan.

Young people should not simply inherit Owen Sound.

They should help build it.

The Covenant in Practice

These ten principles are not intended to become ceremonial language placed at the beginning of a document and forgotten.

Every significant initiative in this business plan will eventually be tested against them.

Before We Act, We Ask

Human Dignity
Are we treating every person as a person rather than a problem?

Autonomy
Are we interfering with lawful personal choice more than necessary?

Family
What does this decision mean around the kitchen table?

Faith and Conscience
Are people free to hold different beliefs without unequal municipal treatment?

The Home
Are we respecting the legitimate private sphere of family and household life?

Expression
Are we protecting peaceful disagreement?

Equal Belonging
Would the same municipal rule apply to someone who strongly disagrees with us?

Responsibility
Are both government and residents carrying their proper share?

Stewardship
Are we caring for what has been entrusted to us?

Future Generations
Are we leaving behind an asset or a bill?

The Owen Sound Civic Covenant

The City of Owen Sound should strive to be a place where:

Government serves rather than rules for its own sake.

Human dignity is respected before political agreement is considered.

People remain free to make lawful decisions about their own lives.

Families are supported in caring for one another.

Faith and conscience are respected without being imposed.

The home remains private except where lawful public responsibilities genuinely require intervention.

Residents can disagree without becoming enemies.

Municipal service is provided fairly regardless of politics or influence.

Freedom is accompanied by responsibility.

Public assets are treated as a trust rather than a possession.

Decisions are made with the generation that follows us in mind.

These principles will not answer every difficult municipal question.

They are intended to do something more important.

They establish the standard by which those difficult questions will be answered.

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