Yesterday's Stratford Roundtable on Public Engagement and Local Government was a surprisingly valuable day. Finding out about it was an accident, but I'm very glad I went.
A joint effort of the Stratford Campus of UWaterloo and the Public Policy Forum, it featured a number of local politicians who seemed to genuinely let their hair down in an admittedly supportive atmosphere. A few speakers were blatant rent-seekers with the flimsiest of excuses for being there. But my distinct impression is that I'd far less rather go toe-to-toe with a mayor than an equivalently powerful bureaucrat.
The thinkers in attendance were focused and even inspiring, offering useful models and speaking well almost to a person. Discussion went all over the place, as is usual in these kind of meetings, but there was an underlying constructiveness to the atmosphere.
Hope it runs again next year.
