On Tuesday, January 17, MP Dean Del Mastro hosted a Pre-Federal Budget roundtable discussion at the Peterborough Legion located at Lansdowne West and Kawartha Heights Boulevard. The stakeholders that were identified and invited by Dean were asked to give their opinions on where they would like to see funding concentrated on.
Nineteen people were at the table with Dean and his secretary, three of them were women of which one did not give a presentation. The organizations represented included: Market Hall, Peterborough Victoria and Haliburton YWCA, Economic Developers Association of Canada, Fleming College, McCloskey International, Peterborough County Federation of Agriculture, Ontario Cattlemen’s Association, Voices for the Trent-Severn Waterway, the Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce, Peterborough and District United Way, Greater Peterborough Area Economic Development Corporation, Peterborough and Kawarthas Association of Realtors, as well as a couple representatives of farmers and manufacturing businesses. The TCSA requested a spot at the table and were told they could not participate.
Occupy(ed) Peterborough was there, standing outside the Legion in the misting rain to remind Dean of all those who were excluded from his roundtable consultation. Between 12:45 and 12:50, we watched Dean Del Mastro leave the Country Style coffee shop and start crossing the parking lot to the Legion. As he reached half way we called out a friendly “Hi, Dean”. He waved in acknowledgement and came over to talk to us.
My fellow demonstrators explained to Dean that his roundtable meeting was exclusive, secretive, and inaccessible. It was suggested he hold a meeting at a central location where anyone could attend, in a similar manner to last year’s City Transit meeting at the Evinrude Centre. Dean instantly rejected the idea saying it would be a “waste of time” and would only be a bunch of people shouting. Dean seems to beunderestimating the people of Peterborough, but even so, one would think Dean would be right at home in such an atmosphere, given his many years experience in the House of Commons.
Dean insisted that the people of Peterborough were represented by those invited to the table. Occupy(ed) demonstrators tried to explain to Dean that many people, especially marginalized groups, are not associated with the stakeholders at the table, were not represented, and are consistently not represented in the Canadian democratic process. Dean dismissed this by saying his door is always open and he will listen to any of his constituents, however he will not organize a general public consultation any time soon. You can, however, express your opinion on the budget via the website: www.fin.gc.ca
I sat in on the meeting to take notes for Arthur and will make my notes available soon via the Arthur Blog for those who are interested in what the stakeholders of Peterborough had to say. But my favourite moment was when Dean managed to promote the XL Keystone Pipeline to the Chamber of Commerce and then the next day President Obama rejected it. Oh sweet irony.
