WE CAN'T SEE YOU
Newsletter - June 27 2026
POWER TO THE PEOPLE!
June 27, 2026
Below is the fifth newsletter for our objective to flip the flow of how we are governed. Instead of giving our power to the politicians … Let’s give that power to the people and let the people build their communities and govern themselves. We will issue these newsletters every 2-weeks between now and our local Election Day on October 26.
Imagine the people governing themselves. We can.
It is doable. But we will have to revolutionize ourselves to change that flow. We can do that too.
This mission starts local — from the neighbours in our communities to our local Town Hall. And the more that other communities do the same, the more the power of the people will flow into provincial and state capitals and right into the seats of the federal government.
We are starting it in our own local community … The Front of Yonge Township in Eastern Ontario Canada. Hopefully, we are setting an example for other communities to do the same.
Power to the People!
_________________________
WE CAN’T SEE YOU
NEWSLETTER - JUNE 27 2026
We need to talk about “transparency”. Or - the lack of - transparency.
We have knocked on over 200 doors across the Township in the past 2-months. Our purpose for doing this has been to gather some perceptions that our neighbours have about our local governance. What is on their minds? Are they satisfied with our system of governance?
The feedback we gather from this effort is important because we can gauge the tone among us which will ultimately reflect how our local election campaign moves forward. After all, our mission is to engage our community towards assuming the role of governing ourselves — essentially, of building our community together.
While specific issues surface (some township-wide and some specific to various neighbourhoods) a common underlying theme becomes obvious. Our neighbours - by a significant majority - echo a uniform sentiment. There is a complete and total lack of trust in government and its institutions. This also extends to corporations and the media. Basically, trust in our overall “system” is gone.
We could readily say that this is a common theme at three out every four doors we knock on. We further notice that at least half of those declaring that observation do so with an obvious rage. Our neighbours are upset and they want their lack of trust resolved.
The good news is that this confirms and validates the purpose for our entire Our Town Hall initiative.
In the last few weeks we have also started to - repeatedly - hear a specific concern that absolutely punctuates this lack of trust sentiment. That concern is about the proliferation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Data Centres. In fact, the concern is rooted in outright rage.
Let’s talk about it.
First off, the Data Centre concern is rooted in two foundational directions. They are not mutually-exclusive but operate in parallel to each other.
One is the role of these Data Centres in the first place. What is their purpose? Why are they so damned important all of sudden? Who is behind them? And how do they impact our lives? These questions are valid and they have not been answered.
This outrage also extends into their environmental impacts — their astronomical consumption of energy and water, their noise pollution, their impacts on people losing their homes through imminent domain land grabs. And their impacts on a community that finds them as their new next door neighbours. They are - to put it bluntly - bad neighbours.
None of these impacts are positive. In fact, every single one is negative.
There is a lot of material available about the impacts of Data Centres on communities. Here is one video example:
And we can easily find numerous others online with a simple search.
But it is the second foundational direction of these Data Centres that causes concern. And this is where we are focusing our discussion today — on the ‘bad neighbour’ concern.
Here in Front of Yonge Township we do not have a Data Centre nor is one currently planned (at least that we know of). But — this concern directly impacts us as it does everyone across the country.
How do these AI Data Centres get green-lighted to be built in the first place? After all, every single one of these Data Centres (and there are hundreds of them with more coming) get approved by communities. How do these approvals happen in the first place? After all, every community they touch has a local Town Hall, a local Council of representatives. What are they thinking? Why would any local Town Hall roll out the welcome mat to a bad neighbour?
How do these Councils allow these Data Centres to proceed? I have not heard of a single community (hundreds in Canada, thousands in the USA) that actually wanted one in their community! Not a single one. In fact, most communities experiencing the arrival of their new Data Centre neighbours are hopping mad about having them.
So … how did their local governing councils allow this to happen to them? This is the question we have to ask here — because there is a parallel action right here that demonstrates how unwanted mega-projects actually arrive in a community without the community even wanting them.
The answer is frightening.
And the answer absolutely justifies the rage shared among many of our neighbours here. Because it could happen here. We might get stuck with a Data Centre at any time and we would have no recourse to stop it. That flaw falls on our government. Squarely.
We can see how these Data Centres get their approvals to proceed without any input from the members of the communities that experience them as their newest neighbour.
Right here - in the Front of Yonge Township - we currently have a project consuming the attention of our local Town Council that exposes a lot of the similarities of having a Data Centre approved in a community.
That project is the proposed construction of a new Fire Hall.
Suffice to say that this project is a $3-million infrastructure project that we will be on the hook to pay for for the next 30-years (via our property tax bills). To date, we have not been presented with a reason for it beyond our current fire hall being ‘outdated’.
What is even more alarming … is that most people we have talked to did not even know it was happening! This is the root of the problem!
And - yes - it has been progressing through our Town Council. Money has been spent on setting the groundwork. A formal Request for Proposal (BID Number FIRE-01-26) has been posted earlier this year for the Architectural Designs. The land (already owned by our Township) has been set aside for it directly on the west side of our Recreation Park.
How come most of us did not even know about this? How come we are not being asked if we wanted it?
This is a serious problem. Furthermore, it is in direct contradiction of the formal Role of Council set forth in the Province of Ontario 2001 Municipal Act; specifically Section 224 (d) “It is the role of Council to ensure the accountability and transparency of the operations of the municipality, including the activities of the senior management of the municipality”.
Accountability. A $3-million capital project in a Township with an annual budget of about $3-million is significant and absolutely requires Accountability.
Transparency. Why do the majority of our taxpayers not even know about this project? Why has Council not brought us into the discussion? We should know about it. It should be rooted in Transparency.
The impact will be on us for 30-years. It is a massive capital project ($3-million). And we are not informed?
How could our Town Council actually let us know about this Fire Hall project? It should be simple to inform us. They themselves tout their own monthly newsletter as being the vehicle to keep us informed about “projects, news and events”. We get these newsletters in our mailboxes every month. I welcome them and read them. Some events I choose to attend. I find them useful and read them every month. We even place them on our fridge door for reference.
Not once do I recall any mention of a new “Fire Hall Project” that would put us into debt for the next 30-years! Not once.
They could have issued a notice to our mailboxes to call us all into Town Hall for a meeting to discuss this project. They did not do that either.
If our Town Council could not see to it to involve us in a discussion about this $3-million Fire Hall project, how could we trust them to notify us of a pending Data Centre project? That is a problem.
Let me go out on a ledge and say this: IF WE ARE NOT MADE AWARE OF THIS FIRE HALL PROJECT, HOW CAN WE TRUST THAT WE WOULD BE MADE AWARE OF A DATA CENTRE BEFORE IT WAS TOO LATE?
We can’t trust our Council. This feeds directly into the lack of trust we significantly share about our government, our institutions, our media and our corporations. And – in this case – it is not so much about our Council seeking to approve this project — it is about our Council not informing us of it. The lack of trust is not rooted in what they say … it is rooted in what they do not say. Erosion of trust in them becomes justified — and it should be expected.
In the majority of the communities that have found themselves experiencing the arrival of a Data Centre they have found out about it too late to do anything about it. The lack of transparency by their local councils has taken the same lack of transparency steps as our Council here in regards to this Fire Hall. This is how it happens. It happens behind closed doors.
The absence of trust in government that our neighbours have? Totally justified!
The rage of being excluded from critical local decisions our neighbours have? Totally justified!
Transparency. Accountability. Those are two foundational elements required in any governing body that exists to represent its community. And - its absence - deserves our distrust and it deserves our rage.
We can do better than this. And we will.
We will see you around in the neighbourhood and please mark your calendar for Election Day on October 26th.
We will absolutely ensure that accountability and transparency accrue to our community. We have to because we do not need to be enraged by our own government and our trust deserves to be earned.
Power to the People!
NEXT STEPS
We keep finding more and more great neighbours that exist among us! We know we can rule ourselves — and do a great job of it! That is getting confirmed by every door we knock on. We have good neighbours here. Many of us are a bit quirky but everyone wants better governance than we have now. We have a good community with all kinds of skills, experiences, talents, and creativity. And good ideas. Let’s give them the light of day!
We are organizing meetings every two-weeks between now and election day. Join us. Let’s start by nominating 5 candidates from among ourselves to form our next Town Council.
Voice your concerns and share your ideas. Our governance is a community project!
The next meeting will be held on MONDAY JULY 6th at 7 PM at the Pavilion at the Mallorytown Recreational Park (at the soccer and baseball fields). JOIN US. JOIN YOUR NEIGHBOURS.
Subscribe to these newsletters. Stay informed. They will be issued every two weeks following each of our meetings. It’s all free, it’s fast and simple to do, and the newsletters will be sent to your email inbox.
Visit our website. Watch the videos about democracy and what it means to govern ourselves. Understand the power we actually have. The links are posted on our website OURTOWNHALL.ORG
And feel free to leave your comments and suggestions. Your ideas make our ideas better ideas. Democracy is a team game. Democracy is a community game. Let’s get on the playing field of democracy.
Power to the People!
