If you follow local government across Canada for any length of time, you start to see two kinds of councils. Some argue loudly, often, and productively and still manage to govern. Others can’t get out of their own way. Meetings become theatre. Personal grievances replace policy debate. And what should be the everyday work of democratic decision-making turns into a weekly exercise in damage control. The difference is rarely ideology. It’s rarely even competence. More often, th

I n my role as a Senior Consultant, I often talk about good governance. It seems to come up in most conversations, during most of my facilitations, and in my thought process during most projects. Good governance is at the root of everything that we do. Throughout my time at Strategic Steps, I have completed various policy and bylaw reviews for municipalities. In short, we work with the municipality to ensure their policies and bylaws are effective, efficient, and up to date.

It’s rare that a week goes by when the topic of ‘good governance’ doesn’t come up in conversation somewhere. Sometimes it’s me questioning an elected officials about what those words mean to them, sometimes it’s the question going the other direction. Just as frequently, the topic emerges in some other context related to how a local government or other organization operates. It’s always perplexed me that we really don’t have a standard definition of what good governance means