On Kyle Rae’s View of the Role of a City Councillor
Anyone who seeks public office and serves their community for nearly twenty years has made a sacrifice for something they must believe strongly in. Kyle Rae is one Councillor who stands strong on issues he cares about and advocates well in the Chamber. He is one of a few Councillors who you can almost always rely on to add value to a debate at City Hall, especially on big picture issues.
He isn’t among the Councillors I would hope to see retire in 2010 but in reading how he views his term and what he deems to be some of his successes and more broadly the role of a Councillor does disappoint me.
In the Globe and Mail piece on him, he states in four different ways pride in standing up to his constituents and scolds other Councillors for trying to protect the neighbourhoods they represent and not taking a citywide view.
I do believe Councillors should take a city wide view, and that municipal government only works if Council does look at city building and the health of the entire city, but I don’t believe this has to be at the expense of local residents.
A Councillor’s first priority should be to their local communities. Their commentary and participation on Council should reflect the values, hopes and aspirations of local constituents and the communities they represent.
No Councillor should be proud of standing up to their constituents, none were elected to ignore the opinions, values or beliefs of those who sent them to City Hall.
While I am sure Kyle Rae’s decision not to seek re-election will impact the quality of debate at City Hall, I only wish he would take with him the many other Councillor’s who share his view on ignoring or ‘standing up’ to their constituents with him.
Councillors should be strong, local champions of their communities. They should be the go to person for residents who have concerns. At the end of the day I strongly believe residents should control the destiny of their communities, and that Councillors need to work with and for the community to ensure the inevitable change that all communities see, is beneficial to the existing community and meets with their acceptance and vision for their area.
I come from a neighbourhood where my grandparents moved four decades ago, where my dad finished high school, and moved back to raise his family. It is a community that knows itself and has built a real character that deserves to be respected. I imagine in other areas this is true as well. To think that an elected official would openly war with those who want to preserve their community and ensure the only change is positive seems to me to be unconscionable. It’s bad enough to watch those who fence sit for a professional – say the right thing in the community and do the opposite downtown.
Tags: Kyle Rae, Toronto Centre Rosedale, Toronto Municipal Election 2010, Ward 27
December 13th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
I haven’t seen Rae’s remarks. But, it seems to me he could have been saying that, sometimes, his constituents are wrong and need to be argued with. It comes down, then, to whether councillors are supposed to be delegates, doing what their constituents say, or representatives, who bring their own judgement and experience into play. I’d rather have the latter — someone who’d tell me when I was going off-track, and who tried to set me right — rather than the former — who’d likely tell me I was right even when I wasn’t.
December 14th, 2009 at 1:03 am
ADHR – I don’t necessarily disagree, but then the representative needs to build a consensus position around the constituents view versus just refusing to represent that position. Moderating the views of a community into workable policy is a powerful thing that should happen far more often where most just decide instead to ignore, or in the case of Councillor Rae – openly oppose.