Municipal elections are looming this year over nearly half the provinces and territories in Canada. The renewal of terms and mandates can be as exciting as it is uncertain; after all, that’s an awful lot of change to the closest order of government to the people. Our clients and friends in BC, PEI, Manitoba, and New Brunswick are undoubtedly working hard right now to figure out how to set their communities up for smooth and successful elections to hit the ground running on th

For a long time in Newfoundland and Labrador, council orientation was more of an exception than a standard practice. Many councils simply went without it. If any training happened at all, it often meant sending one or two members to a basic course offered through the provincial government. That landscape has changed. Today, the province provides a full schedule of mandatory online training that covers the fundamentals of municipal legislation and the roles and responsibilitie

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