Why TinyTRA is not running a slate
As the next municipal election approaches, some in our community have suggested that the only way to “win back” Tiny Township is to organize and run a slate of candidates, one team to replace another. It’s an understandable impulse. After all, four of the five members of our current council ran as a slate in the last election, and their coordinated approach has left many residents feeling unheard and disconnected.
But putting one slate against another will not solve the problems that have plagued the politics of our township. It will only deepen them.
Municipal politics in Ontario are meant to be non-partisan. Councillors are supposed to serve their community, not a party, not a bloc, and not a prearranged agenda. When a slate takes power, council ceases to be a forum for deliberation and becomes a voting machine. That’s what happened with the Township Administration Building project. Instead of an open debate about costs, location, and community priorities, decisions were made by a majority acting in concert, and public input was treated as an inconvenience, not a cornerstone of democracy.
When four of five councillors share the same platform, independent voices are drowned out. The result is not better governance, but less of it. Fewer questions asked, fewer perspectives considered, and fewer opportunities for compromise.
Running another slate in opposition would simply repeat this pattern. The names might change, but the democratic deficit would remain.
What Tiny Township needs now is a council dedicated to consensus building, among its members and with the people it represents. We need leaders who are willing to disagree respectfully, to listen openly, and to find common ground.
True leadership doesn’t come from coordination behind closed doors. It comes from participation in open ones.
That’s why TinyTRA is not running a slate. We believe in participatory democracy, in citizens who speak up, candidates who stand on their own convictions, and a council that governs by collaboration, not calculation.
Our township deserves a council that listens to its residents, not just to itself. Let’s make this next election about returning to that simple, powerful idea
