Collaboration for community success

Collaboration means one voice for success

The past 11 weeks of campaigning across Rideau-Goulbourn have given me the chance to meet dozens of business owners, successful farmers, community leaders, young families, talented artists, and individuals with world-class résumés in their professions.   Rideau-Goulbourn is populated with community-minded people willing to contribute their time, their skills and in many cases, their money, to the benefit of their community.

We’re missing an opportunity.

Our community associations operate in isolation. Our recreation associations operate in isolation; our business improvement associations operate this way as well.

I believe we can share and collaborate to create a stronger social and business network within Rideau-Goulbourn.   We can collaborate to develop new approaches that the City is not in a position to provide today. We have the skills, the resources, and the people to develop economic, recreational/sports, and inter-community strategies, — all this can work to complement our community design plans and turn plans into projects faster.

There are two kinds of collaboration: formal via committees or councils, and informal with projects and teams.   As councillor, I will ensure that our associations are formally connected via the Rural Council concept to come together on a scheduled basis, and provide open public forums on our important issues, plans, and decisions.

I promise more: I will add the means for all residents in Rideau-Goulbourn to communicate and comment directly on the topics of the day. It will be easier for individuals to have their say.   Informally, I will work to help our recreation, business, and community associations to work together and share business plans, approaches, experiences, and methods for moving forward with community design plans and concerns. There will always be differences — that’s a healthy thing in any community. But I strongly believe that we can develop common strategies to recreation development, business development, and community development.

The goal is to create a single voice for progress in Rideau-Goulbourn — a voice that carries the weight of all of us who live in this rural ward.