Discussion Topics for Session 6 - Preliminary List

Listed below are topics proposed for small group discussion during Session 6 of Toronto Civics 101. These topics have been submitted by participants and City staff. In some cases, similar discussion topics submitted have been synthesized into a single topic.

New topics can still be submitted by posting a comment here or sending an email to engagement@toronto.ca up to the start of discussions on December 3.


1. Next Steps - Post Toronto Civics 101
Now that you have completed Toronto Civics 101 and gained this information – what will you do with it? Discuss your plans with your fellow participants.

2. Compare Notes on Organizing with Social Media
Blogs, Facebook and Twitter are some of the tools gaining popularity to communicate with and organize people with common interests. Share your stories about using these tools.

3. Volunteering Stories
Volunteering is one way to get involved in your community and contribute to your City. Discuss some of your lessons from volunteering experiences.

Session 5 - Themed Report on Elections Exercise

Attached are images of the themed report on the elections exercise participants discussed during Session 5. There were two questions asked during the exercise:

1. What influences your decision to vote?
2. What is the one thing that you think would increase voter turnout in Toronto?

Themes that emerged from question 1:
1. Youth Outreach
2. Special Day, Date and Time
3. Making the issues relevant to Citizens
4. Fines or Incentives
5. Education, information, awareness and Advertising
6. Hold Candidates/ Elections Accountable and Civic Duty
7. Representative Electorate
8. Other

Themes that emerged from question 2:
1. Duty, Rights and Privilege
2. Local or Critical Issue
3. The Candidate
4. Don't vote
5. Each Vote Makes a Difference
6. Good Information
7. Political Platforms
8. Other

Agenda for Session 6 - Send Us Your Ideas!

This is a message for all participants in Toronto Civics 101.

For the sixth and final session of Toronto Civics 101, we want you to help us form the agenda.

Throughout this series, you've had the opportunity to meet and talk with people who share your curiosity and passion for Toronto - people with an interest in making a great city better.

In this session, “Lessons and Leadership”, you will have the opportunity to discuss what you have learned through the program with other participants. Topics may include something people were curious about coming into the program, something mentioned during one of the sessions, or an idea you have generated from what you've learned. You will have at least 45 min during the session for this purpose.

Do you have an idea for discussion? Submit your idea here by commenting on this post, or send it directly to us at engagement@toronto.ca by November 26. Keep your description brief (no more than four lines) and with a clear title. We will post proposed topics here leading up the session, so that participants can see what groups they are interested in joining.

T.O. Civics 101, Session 5 – Are City Councillors Overworked?

~ Guest Bloggers can submit posts to this site. The opinions of the authors are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the position of the City of Toronto, Civic Engagement Toronto or Toronto Civics 101. ~


The following post comes to us from Bill Gaw:

During yesterday evening's discussion on municipal elections and the councillor's presentation on the roles/activities of a municipal councillor, I started out being impressed with the scope of effort required, and gradually became concerned about the weight of that work on the poor folk who win election. As their employer I began to worry that we are over-stressing our representatives.

If councillors find themselves overworked, I'm sure there is some mechanism for them to bail out without too much harm, but what about the effect on work quality?

Do we have research to suggest limits on how many roles a councilor can manage before their performance in terms of level of understanding, attention to detail, ability to attend meetings, and the ability to focus on the critical agenda, begins to fall apart and produce poor quality decisions? Have councillors themselves expressed a view on work load versus work quality?

I found it educational to attend the Budget Committee Capital Budget Hearing this morning. The member councillors seemed to have a fair grasp of the issues; the non-member councillors appeared to be vague on detail; a surprising number of councillors did not appear to be paying attention to the public presentations; and two councillors were asked to leave the committee room so that their side conversation would not distract a presenter. It was also interesting to note how often staff did not know the answers to perfectly reasonable questions from councillors.

Bill Gaw

Your City on the Web - an event at the Toronto Reference Library

Here is news of an event that may be of interest to Toronto Civics 101 participants. Thanks to Michael Shelley for suggesting it!
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Your City on the Web

Learn about the City of Toronto's website and how to find housing and job information, financial assistance programs, recreational events and more. Find out about your neighbourhood, who your City Councillor is and how to get in touch.

Thursdays, Sept. 17, Oct. 22, Nov. 19, Dec. 17, 2:00-3:00 pm
Le@rning Centre 1

For more information, call the Toronto Reference Library user education line at 416-393-7209 between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm or visit their website.

T.O. Civics 101, Session 4 – Engagement, the Underfunded City and the Citizen Response

~ Guest Bloggers can submit posts to this site. The opinions of the authors are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the position of the City of Toronto, Civic Engagement Toronto or Toronto Civics 101. ~

The following post comes to us from Adil Dhalla:

After telling a friend that I couldn’t go out last Thursday because I was attending a Toronto Engagement event, he jokingly responded “Okay buddy, have a good time getting engaged to the city”. Obviously, had I clarified the entire title of the series, he would not have had the chance to play with my words but it did force me to consider the important distinction between education and engagement.

To the onlooker, Civics 101 might appear more about educating citizens about the city and certainly, there has been a great deal of information shared. But what elevates the experience to ‘engagement’ is the fact that participants for 101 are hearing from actual decision makers and then being encouraged to work together to tackle the city’s challenges. This approach not only leaves participants with a much deeper understanding of how the city operates, but can lead to collaborative thinking which could manifest into real solutions.

This week, for example, we were led into a deep discussion of the city’s finances by Shelley Carroll (the city’s Budget Chief) and Cam Weldon (the City’s CFO). The session was part informative, part interactive, as we sat at circular tables and attempted in small groups to balance the city’s budget. The exercise had a profound impact and helping me understand how hard it is for the city to match the needs of its citizens without raising taxes or making cuts and redistributing resources.

With neither option welcoming, there are two conclusions that can be drawn:

• The city must continually work to ensure that each of its arms are accountable and maximizing the potential of what they are allotted and
• Assuming no one wants more taxes and that we cannot rely on larger contributions from other levels of government, the City needs to get creative in deriving revenue.

The first point is virtually an eternal issue for organizations whether they are public or private but I would still encourage the city to study the private sector since in some ways, their stakeholders are less forgiving and their future less guaranteed. This urgency that defines the private might provide new paradigms and ideas.

The second point, however, allows me to return to this concept of engagement. Listening to Councilor Carroll, my mind began racing with ideas on how the city could generate more revenues. My ideas weren’t about what the city could do, as much as they were about what we citizens could do. For example, we could crowd-source for needed projects (akin to what President Obama has been doing) or create an initiative that encourages businesses to make a small contribution back to the city. For example, I am launching a new business soon and am now considering a give-back to the city as part of our social contribution. Sure, my contribution might only be enough at first to install a new swing set but to the detractors, I would say one swing set is better than no swing set and what would happen if we all thought about one thing we could do?

The point is, education leads to learning whereas engagement leads to collaboration and new thinking. I hope it’s doing the same for you and would love to hear how.
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Adil Dhalla (@TheNetTale) is the founder of creativitykilledtherecession.org.