Some Assembly Required

PLEASE FORWARD

Some Assembly Required:
Participatory Budgeting in Canada
and Abroad

Janette Loveys of the City of Guelph, Derek Ballantyne of Toronto Housing Corporation and Daniel Schugurensky of the University of Toronto.

When: THURSDAY, APRIL 29TH, 7:00-9:00PM
Where: METRO HALL, 55 JOHN STREET, COUNCIL CHAMBERS (at King and John Streets)

ALL ARE WELCOME. ADMISSION IS FREE.

Mayor David Miller has publicly committed to developing a participatory budget process for the city of Toronto. What makes a budgeting process participatory? We'll hear from three people who have extensive experience with working participatory budgeting models in Toronto, Guelph, and Porto Alegre. What we can learn from them? What will it take for Toronto's process to be truly participatory?

Janette Loveys works for the City of Guelph, and has worked with its Neighbourhood Support Coalition in a participatory budgeting process. Derek Ballantyne is CEO of Toronto Housing Corporation, which manages social housing where a quarter million Torontonians live. They have conducted a residents' participatory process to allocate $18 million in capital expenditure. Daniel Schugurensky teaches at U of T and specializes in transformative learning. He has extensive personal knowledge of the participatory budgeting process in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

nice giftwrap for those coffins...

Are they afraid we'll discover dead bodies in there?

(no subject)

Do not ask me three questions. I will not answer them. If I asked you three questions, and you answered, just too bad. You suck. That'll teach you to tag along LJ memes.

Pre-election Poll: NDP on the Move

(from ndp email)

Talk about new energy! Today’s NDP is up four percentage points nationally from December, according to an Environics poll released today by CBC-TV.

According to the poll, the NDP is at 19% – up 4 points from December. The poll shows the NDP is more than twice as popular as in the 2000 election – and only 1 point below our all-time election high from 1988. A Globe and Mail poll by Ipsos-Reid earlier this month had us at 18%.

This is great news! We’re on the move and whenever Paul Martin’s Liberals muster up the courage to go to the polls, Jack Layton and today’s NDP are going to give them an election they’ll never forget.

The more voters see from Paul Martin’s Liberals – the budget, the Throne Speech, the endless corruption scandal – the more they’re looking for a positive alternative.

If you're involved in an NDP campaign – keep up the great work. It’s paying off!

If you've been waiting until we get closer to the election – now’s your chance. Because Jack Layton and today’s NDP are on the move.

Here are the regional breakdowns:
Atlantic 18%
Québec 8%
Montréal 11%
Ontario 21%
Toronto Area 22%
Manitoba 32%
Saskatchewan 27%
Alberta 14%
BC 31%
Vancouver 32%