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John Taylor scored a famous victory today in successfully persuading his colleagues on York Regional Council to allow video streaming and archiving of meetings. Hardly a revolutionary proposition, you may think, but there are those on Regional Council who believe steam radios are a dangerous new fangled innovation.

At present, only Council meetings are audio streamed. Video is not allowed.

Taylor is now proposing live streaming and archiving within six months.

You could hear the sharp intake of breath! Six months? Impossible!

Taylor wants it done properly with multiple cameras and he doesn’t see the need to wait months for budget approval.

The Region’s corporate services chief, Dino Basso, looks sceptical.

Taylor says it’s time for the Region with 1.2 million residents to be more open and responsive. Video streaming is common practice and it should be done to the highest standards. Some systems, he says, are not user friendly. As I am listening, I am thinking of the rudimentary set-up in Newmarket where the single fixed camera focuses on the back of the heads of those making deputations.

We don't get big crowds

Democracy costs money says Taylor earnestly. Elections are expensive. But we need to do it. Surveying the rows of empty seats in the public gallery he tells his colleagues York Region is an invisible layer of Government.  “We don’t get big crowds.”

“And we have an aging population with mobility issues.” Now I see in my mind’s eye legions of elderly voters trapped at home, glued to their laptops, transfixed by Committee of the Whole debates.

York Region’s school swot, Markham’s Jack Heath concedes it is something they will have to do but he wants another detailed report. He is always calling for reports. He loves them - often quoting obscure points buried deep in the text to prove to the rest of us that he has read them.

The Forces of Darkness

Now I hear the smooth but menacing baritone of Frank Scarpitti from Markham, the highest paid Mayor in Canada. (Photo below) First he is dismissive. Having video streaming “is not going to change life all that much”. But now he is telling us audio streaming works very well. In fact, he suggests audio streaming Committee of the Whole meetings could start right away. Cost free! 

We learn in Markham meetings are audio streamed but when there are presentations to councillors the video and graphics go up on the website. When the presentation is over the screen goes blank and the viewer reverts to being a listener. This is Scarpitti’s vision of the future.

Now he cuts to the chase. Scarpitti fears that video will change the character of meetings. Audio, he says, “is more than adequate”.

With video, the balding Scarpitti tells us he might have to get his hair done before meetings. This produces gentle mirth.

Now Vito Spatafora from Richmond Hill tells us that Richmond Hill has video streaming. But after glancing at Scarpitti he starts to row back. He is worried about the cost. He needs to know what the impact will be on the budget.

“What do we have to give up to put this in place?”

And what kind of system are we talking about?

After listening to this drivel, an emboldened Taylor is telling us he wants a report in three months not six.

The Cavalry is Coming

Now the cavalry is coming over the hill.

Mayor Margaret Quirk, says they do video streaming and archiving up in Georgina and it seems to work well enough. She says it changes the tone of meetings.

“The people who like to grandstand tone it down.”

She says archiving helps the staff who can go back and check what was actually said at a meeting. Audio alone doesn’t give you the flavour of what happens. You don’t see the body language. I find myself nodding in approval.

Now Markham’s Jim Jones is telling us he supports Taylor. On important issues people really like to know what is going on and, for that, visuals are needed.

Richmond Hill’s Brenda Hogg is also in favour. So too is Markham’s Nirmala Armstrong. She says it is all about access to information. When they see a meeting residents get a different perception. They will get more involved. And members will behave differently when the cameras are rolling.

Newmarket’s Van Bynen wakes up to support Taylor. He says video streaming is becoming standard and it brings lots of benefits. He doesn’t need a further report.

Where are the reporters?

Now it is the turn of Wayne Emmerson (photo right) to confirm what we already know. He prefers to work in the shadows, away from the glare of publicity. The only people he needs to court are the 14 members of the Regional Council who voted for him in December 2014. He suggests people and the press are simply not interested. 

Look, he says, there’s no press in the room.

Now Emmerson gets to the heart of the matter. He says there is no problem finding the money for the cameras but it will change the dynamics of this Council. He tells us Durham Regional Council brought in video streaming and its members were jawing away from dawn to dusk, performing for the cameras. This is not a high priority.

The balding Scarpitti senses the time is right to declare that he will not be supporting Taylor. But he wants audio streaming of the Committee of the Whole immediately with a video of presentations, after which the plug is pulled.

“That is more than adequate.”

The Mayor of King, Steve Pellegrini, who is chairing this part of the agenda gets himself tied up in knots when he wants to put Scarpitti’s proposal – described as an amendment to the amendment - to a vote.

No. No. No.

You can’t have multiple amendments on the floor at the same time.

Resistance is crumbling

I sense resistance to Taylor’s proposal is crumbling.

Jim Jones, affecting innocence, says he doesn’t understand why there is such resistance to video.

And, as it happens, there isn’t.

The Committee votes to back Taylor and get York Region video streaming – just like Durham, Halton, Niagara and Waterloo.

The Regional Chair, Wayne Emmerson, looking impassive, abstains.

So too does the sonorous museum-piece, Frank Scarpitti, who really doesn’t need to worry about getting his hair done.

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York Region is a huge and colossally important tier of Government but we don’t know what goes on there. 

Its Council meetings are live audio streamed but no video. The Committee meetings are not broadcast or streamed at all. If you want to know what’s happening you have to be physically present. I've been banging on about this for ages.

News organizations can’t use video clips in their TV programmes. Because at York Region video isn’t allowed.

Debates on crucially important issues such as affordable housing, planning and growth disappear into the ether, unrecorded.

The contributions (or indolence) of members goes unremarked.

College of Cardinals

The College of Cardinals is more open and transparent than York Region.

A report going to the Region’s Committee of the Whole tomorrow (15 September) on “Further Consideration of Broadcasting Regional Council and Committee Meetings to the Public” presented by the noxious Michael Di Biase recommends no action. Regional Council Members including our own Tony Van Bynen and John Taylor are asked to “receive the report”.

The report suggests that “audiences for broadcasted municipal meetings is low”. But I suspect audiences for Queen’s Park and the House of Commons are low too. But should we turn off the lights and pull out the plugs?

I don't think so.

Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

The report tomorrow concludes that

“Listenership for the live Council audio stream is relatively low and based on the experiences in other municipalities it is unlikely to significantly increase if video is made available. The Region will continue to promote Council highlights through social and traditional media channels.”

This is simply not good enough. We are not living in the 1950s.

York Regional Council is a closed inward looking world. A cosy club. It needs to be burst wide open.

I have asked Tony Van Bynen and John Taylor to call the report in for debate and a vote.

We shall see if, in the absence of cameras, they stir themselves.

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My email this evening to Tony Van Bynen and John Taylor – who both sit on York Regional Council – reads:


I see on the agenda of tomorrow's regional Committee of the Whole that a report is being presented by Regional Councillor Di Biase entitled "Further Consideration of Broadcasting Regional Council and Committee Meetings to the Public".

The recommendation is to receive the report.

I expect you will wish call it in for debate and press for a vote.

I shall be at the Committee of the Whole tomorrow because there is no other way I can follow what is going on. Twitter and Facebook "broadcasting highlights" are no substitute for continuous broadcasting.

Who would suggest these days that Queen's Park or the House of Commons should only do audio broadcasting? The very idea is absurd.

The fact that very few people watch is not an argument for turning off the cameras - or not getting them rolling in the first place.

I see that 13 people on average watch Newmarket meetings that are video streamed. Perhaps those are the very people who inform others what is happening. Perhaps news organisations rely on video streaming.

I am sure neither of you would wish to turn off live streaming.

The arguments are all familiar to you and I would like to see you deploy them tomorrow.

People will not be watching. But they will know what happens.

 

Details

It is noon on Wednesday 14 September and I’ve arranged to meet Peter Geibel in “Books Café and Things” on Main Street South so he can tell me why he deserves to be elected as councillor for Ward 5.  

Outside, on the other side of the street, I see our slightly stooped Mayor in the company of men in suits. The old bank manager is up to something!

But back to Peter Geibel…

I have a list of questions in my head that I want to put to the candidate. But he is on auto-pilot, hardly pausing for breath, as he races through his life history. I interrupt and try a little course correction. What do you bring to the table that the other candidates don’t?

I discover it is his pragmatism. Indeed on Peter’s website he proudly nails his colours to the mast:

“Contrary to some of the candidates running, I have not been groomed in the political arena, but rather have learned to be a self starter, manager, and consummate pragmatist.  My task has always been to establish common ground between all parties and find amicable resolutions to any eventuality.”

Now he turns to the Clock Tower and explains how his pragmatism will get both sides together, producing a beneficial outcome. He says the Town should offer Forrest the tennis court lands down by the Community Centre for his condo and, in return, get the Clock Tower lands from Forrest.

Ah Ha!

I concede it is a novel idea. No cash would change hands. It would be a straight swap.

And how high would this condo be? Seven storeys?

Peter tells me it could be up to nine. The Town would get some public parking. And the owners of the apartments would get terrific views of Fairy Lake. It is, apparently, a win-win.

But why would the Town want to go down this road?

He tells me there is a big pipe sewer under the tennis courts that is in very poor condition and it will have to be dug up at some point and replaced.

And?

Peter tells me the Town probably has to do a deal with Forrest as he (Forrest) holds all the cards.

It’s David and Goliath, he says.

I ask him who David is. The Town or Bob Forrest?

Peter tells me the Town is split on the Clock Tower. I tell him the Mayor is in favour of Forrest’s development but who else? Peter says Dave Kerwin has shifted his position. I press him further. He doesn’t want to name any more names. Fair enough.

So why is Bob the muscular Goliath who can take on the weedy Town and win?

Peter says Bob would go to the OMB if the Town turned down his Clock Tower application. True. But even if the OMB gave approval Bob would still need an agreement from the Town for his underground car park. The Town has a complete choke-hold on Bob if it refuses to make the land available for Bob’s underground car park.

Hmmmm.

Now I am asking Peter about his team, his platform and his campaign launch.

I hear that people he has spoken to have been won over by him. His platform will be released in a week and his campaign launch will be held here, in Books Café and Things, in a fortnight.

Peter concedes that he was “late out of the gate” (he is just back from Ireland) but he is working hard to pull everything together.

Peter’s platform – like his website – is plainly work in progress.

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The Town has just told me that tonight's meeting of the Newmarket Heritage Advisory Committee has been cancelled.

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee is 4 October which clashes with the Ward 5 candidates debate.

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Once again I find myself in the Goulash House on Main Street South listening to a Ward 5 hopeful. The last time I was here, Darryl Wolk was strutting his stuff.

Tonight (Monday 12 September) it is the turn of Tom Pearson, a long time anti-poverty campaigner with a track record that got him the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. The crowd is, alas, on the thin side.  

I see some familiar faces. These are the by-election groupies who turn up for campaign launches and the free entertainment they provide. Tom Pearson doesn’t disappoint.

On the stage is the warm up act – a singer creaking out some ancient Beatles songs.

Now Tom grabs the microphone and delivers his stump speech, without notes. It is a confident performance. Two women sitting at a table in the window bay continue talking. Tom clearly finds this distracting (as do the rest of us) and he pivots towards them yelling:

“Ladies! Please!”

Terrific!

Tom is like a coiled up spring. He is very animated. He tells us about his Mom, his life and his Town.

Tom is probably the archetypal WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). He comes across as authentic – an elusive quality in politicians. If elected, he would not be one of those councillors who ride two horses at the same time. He tells us:

“I am not someone who can be bought or manipulated.”

He clearly believes the Council needs a good shake-up. He claims people are not getting all the facts. He says the council needs someone whose heart is in the Town. Then he takes a swipe at those candidates “who have a relationship with real estate”. Clearly, he doesn’t think this is desirable but, for once, he pulls his punches. Unfortunately, he doesn’t tell us why.  

Tom tells us he has the best interests of the Town at heart. He doesn’t like party politics because politicians – if they want to climb the greasy pole – listen to the Party rather than to residents. The Town, he says, is his top priority. 

Yes. But…

Now I must digress. There is one problem with the absence of parties in municipal elections. It is very difficult for voters to distinguish between so-called “independent” candidates. Voters would have to immerse themselves in the campaign and, even then, they might end up voting for a candidate who promises a raft of spending but turns out to be a fiscal conservative who prefers to keep his/her money in the bank. Candidates who talk of “respect for taxpayers” generally fall into this camp.

Political parties, love them or loathe them, telegraph immediately recognisable signals to the voters. If the candidates are wearing red, blue, orange or green rosettes you know broadly where they are coming from. “Independents” – constantly shape-shifting - are much more difficult to pin down.

We know Regional Councillor John Taylor ran for the Liberals in 2003. Christina Bisanz ran for the Liberals in the Provincial Election in 2011. Jane Twinney ran for the PCs in 2014. Former Councillor Maddie Di Muccio, a rolling eyed conservative if there ever was one, tried for the PC nomination in the provincial elections in 2014 but was blocked by Tim Hudak. Darryl Wolk is a dyed-in-the-wool Conservative. Bob Kwapis was, I believe, on the Executive of the local PC association. If I am wrong he will correct me. The list goes on. Do they leave their political preferences at the door when they enter the Council Chamber? No, of course not.

Sometimes it is difficult to discern where candidates are coming from – so skilled are they in sending out mixed messages to the electorate. But everyone on Council or running has a “political” position – even those who stoutly profess to being “non-political”.

We elect them to make choices on our behalf. That’s politics.

End of digression.

You can read Tom Pearson’s platform here. Personally, I think some of it doesn’t quite gel. But there is no doubt Pearson would be his own man.

If elected, he wouldn’t sit in the Council Chamber looking wise and saying nothing like a few of the present incumbents.

He would tell it as he sees it.

Now I see Tom at the microphone again belting out the Beatles song “HELP!”

It is a cat’s chorus.

I tell him afterwards he cannot sing.

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