Elections
Do you support the use of participatory budgeting to allow ward residents to propose and vote on local capital projects?
Responses to the question: "Do you support the use of participatory budgeting to allow ward residents to propose and vote on local capital projects?"
In This Page:
7 Candidate Responses (top)
| Ward 09 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Brief Response | Full Response |
| Conley, Doug | No | Voting should be done by the elected officials; however, input from the public is always appreciated. |
| Galindo, Cam | Yes | Yes. Participatory budgeting allows ward residents to have a stronger voice when it comes to the decision making process. At the end of the day, its all about including residents in making decisions that affect them.
|
| Marrone, Tone | Yes | the publics voice and concern is always needed...... |
| McMullen, Geraldine | Yes | Yes, citizen engagement is key to vibrant, sustainable communities. Only through consultation with citizens will we have wards all across the City that work for the people who live in the communities within their boundaries.
|
| Robbins, Marie | Yes | In principal, participatory budgeting is a great initiative which has had some remarkable successes, particularly in Brazil. There is something that we can learn from this and it’s clear that some of the best initiatives are grassroots and citizen-driven. In practice, participatory budgeting must be done in a way that is as accessible and legitimate to all residents as any other municipal vote.
I’ve been following some of the initiatives for participatory budgeting coming up through civil society and my biggest concern is that in its current form in Hamilton, the process effectively just gives an extra vote to the small minority who have the spare time to attend privately organized meetings. The process is also conducted with a level of transparency that is far inferior to any other type of election of referendum in Canada and with far lower levels of participation than even municipal elections, which already have a depressingly low voter turnout. Since participatory budgeting is supposed to be about deepening citizen engagement, it needs to be conducted in a way that is at least as open and accessible to the public as a municipal election. With this in mind, I am in favour of including budget items of a critical mass as a part of the city’s electoral process as a way of making this process work. Perhaps there could be participatory budgeting items on part of the ballot during municipal elections? It will certainly require further study, and there is a lot of room for improvement, but I am supportive of finding a way to make this work. |
| Rosser, Christopher | Yes | I support the idea of participatory budgeting. I like the idea of more communication with the constituents.
|
| Rukavina, Frank | Yes | I would support the use of participatory budgeting. |
Response Summary (top)
| Brief Response | Count | % of Total |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 6 | 85.7% |
| No | 1 | 14.3% |
| Maybe | 0 | 0.0% |
2 Candidates Have Not Responded (top)
| Ward 09 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Austin, Lee | ||
| Fiorentino, Nancy | ||
