Truth, honesty and democracy on council.

It is with purpose that I quoted Isaac Bashevis Singer this week in my eBlast.  “If you keep saying things are going to be bad, you have a good chance of being a prophet”.

Earlier today I responded to an email from a P.Eng. asking if I was “running with any panel and if so, who am I running with?”  An interesting question…

There are no “parties” on council.  To my knowledge all of the candidates, including myself, are running as “independents” except those that are fronted by the "Engineers for Democracy on Council" (OEDC).  We “independents” are running for council to represent you, the licence holders.  By now, you will all have heard of the OEDC and seen their logo on some candidate pages.  Perhaps you’ve even visited their web page filled with bold statements that are meant to grab your attention.

Of the 19 candidates in this year’s election (this includes the two positions that have been acclaimed), 8 are “fronted” by the OEDC.  Did you know that these candidates are “forbidden” from supporting any of the other non-OEDC candidates?  This is democracy OEDC style. 

You will note that neither of the women running for council are present on the OEDC web page.  We were not contacted by the OEDC for our thoughts about “democracy” on council.  Are you interested in knowing more about what some of the "participants" behind OEDC thinks about women on council or women engineers in general? 


Please note that  because of a settlement between the PEO and several parties I, as a councillor of the PEO, have been requested not to reference the legal action and remove links (which are no longer active on the PEO website) to legal documents that were until recently in the public domain.  The documents included text from emails that specifically referenced women engineers and women on council in far from flattering terminology.  Hence a major section of this post has been removed.




I do recognize that not all the "participants" in the OEDC likely feel the way of these individuals, however, ...

I must admit that I often wonder whether we're still in 1922 when it comes to the profession of engineering in Ontario. 

Much fanfare is, at times, made by the OEDC itself, and by their candidates about “conspiracies”, “factions” on council and “block” voting.  The only group that I have noted during my two years on council that displays these characteristics is the OEDC itself and their candidates.

What kind of honesty do you expect from your councillors? 

What kind of democracy do you want on your council?

Only you through your vote can help make that decision.  Please become informed and cast your ballot before 4pm February 28^th.