I have met with Coun. Susan Flowers and found her to be everything she appeared to be: bright, soft spoken, intelligent, experienced and well intentioned. I believe she adds a valuable voice to council. It was because of those attributes that I found it very hard to believe that she announced her intention to limit the number of motions that any one councillor may bring to council per calendar year.
Regardless of the stated intentions behind this motion, I have to agree with Coun. Nagel on this one by calling it undemocratic. Let me be clear, while I do not agree with Mr. Nagel on all his motions, I will always fight for a councillor’s right to bring forth ideas for debate.
This is an idea that appears to be focused on possible short-term benefits that could have unintentional consequences such as stifling debate, limiting council’s ability to respond to Cochrane’s needs and arguably places restrictions on council members ability to do their job. Here’s hoping that this motion is withdrawn or defeated!
Dan Cunin
