Yesterday I wrote a letter to the Liberal Urban Caucus Committee in response to their May 2008 discussion paper. 
Having copied the letter to my blog (see link in my signature), I include excerpts below with the hope of generating 
some discussion. The blog post contains links to the relevant resources. 

----

I was Founder and Coordinator of WISE, a former group and national movement of low-income women. WISE folded in 
April 2008 due to changes to Status of Women Canada.



I've just finished reading the UCC's May 2008 discussion paper and have some questions and comments...


The overall tone was disappointing. It comes across as cloyingly paternalistic; frankly, it made me want to take a 
shower.



The UCC is recommending that the federal (Liberal) government continue dictating to communities (albeit, in 
"partnership") what they should do, how they should do it, and what resources they should use to accomplish specific 
federal-mandated goals.



Such an approach does not empower communities to set their own path, which citizens in communities should have a 
right to do. It does not encourage active citizen engagement in identifying their community's problems and coming up 
with ideas to resolve them. When citizens are so engaged, the glue which holds communities together strengthens and 
thus supports them even during the bad times.



Another disappointment with the report, again within the paternalistic theme, is the mere lip service paid to the One 
Cent Now campaign supported by the FCM... The One Cent campaign is mentioned in the UCC report, then brushed off 
and used to support UCC recommendations which have no direct relation to it.



"The 'One Cent Now' campaign ... dramatically underscored the very real problems that municipalities across the 
country are having as a result of provincial downloading and the increasing infrastructure deficit... The mayors' 
demands are not unreasonable. During much of the 1990s, provincial and federal governments downloaded 
responsibilities for various social needs onto lower levels of government... Ultimately, municipal governments were left 
to pick up the slack without any significant or systemic help from other levels of government. Now that federal and 
provincial governments across the country are recording record surpluses, the time has come to re-examine the 
funding of Canadian municipalities." [As though we must first look to the care and feeding of upper-tier governments 
before supporting the communities in which people live. CO]



"Canada's cities are being asked to deliver services that redistribute income and resources from high-income 
Canadians to low-income Canadians, without any access to revenue from income or sales taxes" (p18f).



Having stated the above, this is what the UCC recommends:


   17. A Liberal government engage provincial governments and municipal officials to study ways the funding model for 
municipalities can be improved. [The FCM proposed one. It's called One Cent Now.]

   18. A Liberal government invite municipal representatives to all intergovernmental discussions that affect their 
interests.

   19. A Liberal government provide seed money to a pan-Canadian program that would allow seniors the option to 
defer paying their property taxes until after their homes are sold.



The UCC has looked at the problems and come up with one-size-fits-all solutions that continue to support federal 
interference in community concerns. Between this and the paternalistic theme of the report, one might charge the 
Liberals with trying to emulate the NDP.*



You may wonder why I, as former Coordinator of WISE, am bothered by this.

The one issue which WISE pushed the 
hardest, since we considered it to be the most crucial for addressing inequalities in health, income, housing, inclusion, 
and so on, was that of democratic and electoral reform. We were not pushing anywhere near so hard for housing 
measures and supported not at all campaigns for more money for food banks, women's shelters, homeless shelters, 
etc., all of which are bandaid solutions.



Disempowerment and the inability to influence change in our communities were our greatest barriers...



Chrystal Ocean

* The vast majority of WISE members did not support the NDP or its big government solutions.

WISE Book - Policies of Exclusion, Poverty & Health: Stories from the front
Podcast Channel: http://bcseawalker.podbean.com/
Personal Blog: Challenging the Commonplace - and other irreverent activities
http://challengingthecommonplace.blogspot.com/

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