Our colleagues, the Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition and Simcoe County Alliance to End Homelessness (SCATEH) are co-hosting this event, which is both in-person and live-streamed, depending on your comfort level!
Recording now available at https://youtu.be/h7x5WGOl68I
Date: Wednesday, May 11, 7-9pm
Place: Grace United Church, 350 Grove Street East, Barrie
With the combined voting power of 100 community and faith organizations, we will be asking all BSOM candidates to commit to a handful of proposals to strengthen our communities. There will also be time to answer questions submitted from the audience. This event is in-person and livestreamed.
Several organizations are teaming up to host an accountability assembly to hear from the Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte (BSOM) candidates on important topics including housing affordability, poverty, and the environment.
On Wednesday, May 11 at 7 p.m., the four provincial election candidates in the BSOM riding have been invited to this event at Grace United Church at 350 Grove St. E., in Barrie. The public is also invited or can watch via livestream.
The four candidates in this riding are Elyse Robinson, Green Party of Ontario; Jeff Lehman, Ontario Liberal Party; Beverley Patchell, Ontario New Democratic Party; and the incumbent Doug Downey, Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario.
The event is being put on by volunteers from the Simcoe County Alliance to End Homelessness (SCATEH) Barrie and Orillia chapters, the Simcoe County Poverty Reduction Task Group, the Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition, the Simcoe County Food Council, and Kairos, along with the host, Grace United Church. Together these coalitions represent over 100 organizations.
The accountability assembly is a slightly different format from a debate, and the hope is that it will provide more useful outcomes.
“I like accountability assemblies because we get to ask each candidate to make commitments on issues we care about and get their clear yes or no,” notes Jennifer van Gennip, speaking on behalf of the SCATEH Barrie chapter. “Ideally, all candidates commit to our requests, and then no matter who wins the election, we are able to hold them accountable to the commitments made at the assembly.”
Candidates are also given an opportunity to speak about why they do or do not support the proposals from the group and provide additional information on how they intend to address these important issues.
“These are such pressing issues right now, and provincial policy can do a lot to help or hinder,” adds Susan Eagle, another event organizer and reverend at Grace United. “It is important for voters to hear where each candidate stands on issues like the right to housing, how the government can address poverty, and their plans to protect the environment.”
Doors open to the public at 6:30 p.m. Masks are encouraged. Livestreaming will also be available here.
Engage Barrie Organization encourages our members and guests to contribute blog posts on a variety of topics that fall under our "equitable, empowered, engaged" umbrella, in the hopes of sharing a variety of perspectives and experiences. Please be aware that the views and opinions expressed by our blog contributors do not necessarily reflect any official position of Engage Barrie Organization.
Comments