Municipal Matters

Municipal Matters

This month we had hoped to run a workshop series called Municipal Matters, focused on increasing involvement in local democracy, but we were forced to cancel because too few people registered.

Municipal elections have the worst rate of participation of any of our three levels of government. In 2014, only 47% of eligible electors voted in Peterborough. Across the province, municipal turnout rates rarely exceed 50%.

In the recent provincial election, 58% voted, and in the 2015 federal election, 68.5% voted. While neither of those rates are impressive, they show an interesting trend. People are more willing to participate in elections for higher levels of government.

Why is that? When so many of our essential services are provided by the municipality, it seems odd that people would disregard these elections.

At Nourish, we would like to know more about our community’s interest and participation in elections, especially municipally. Please fill out our brief survey to help us remove barriers to participation and create ways to support more residents in connecting with our closest level of government: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DR5NR3J

If municipal government is an issue that interests you and you want to help us find avenues to engage more residents in these conversations, get in touch with us by email (info@nourishproject.ca), or by phone (705.743.3526).