This is for you, Mrs. B. After presenting my delegation to Clarington council on April 21st, Clarington councillor Gord Robinson asked me if I would be willing to lobby Oshawa council to financially support a public information session. My reply was "Absolutely." Thursday, May 22nd at 9:30 a.m. I will be at Oshawa City Hall doing just that.
In order to prepare for speaking in front of council I made it a habit of speaking with my neighbours and friends in Oshawa to see who could be available during the day to sit behind me and show their support for a public information session which will allow the public to learn about the pros and cons of incineration and then have an opportunity to ask questions. This format would benefit Clarington residents, all residents of Durham Region, and to me significantly, Oshawa residents, after all this is the city that I live in and hold dearest to my heart.
So far this week I've asked four neighbours -- one is coming; one is busy; one is working but is against incineration and is going to look at the http://www.durhamenvironmentwatch.org/ website and talk to her coworkers; and one neighbour said something quite disturbing to me.
As I'm emailing friends and acquaintances, I am pleasantly surprised at the generous nature of people when they are willing to listen to my delegation. So the number of people sitting behind me is growing.
Perhaps others have already experienced comments that are beyond a challenge and are almost threatening. I guess I should welcome myself to the world of politics! And, hey, Mrs. B. you're not alone here!
I asked one of my neighbours if he would sit behind me after telling him about what I'm doing and he can see the Say No to Incineration sign on my front lawn from his house. He told me that he's actually not con and so I waited for him to tell me why so that I could hear him out and then inform him of my concerns. Instead of telling me why he is not con he said that I had better watch out because there are some people who want this incinerator. I found it rather threatening -- I go with my gut when people are using their words and I was watching body language. I took a pause and said that's fair (ignoring his irritable demeanor) and said that I'm against incineration because there are health implications and we have to think about higher taxes. He acknowledged that I needed people from Oshawa to sit behind me at council to show support and I said yes. Then his wife yelled from the porch that they're not available (when I'm going to make my delegate speech to Oshawa council). Quick end of discussion. But then I did call out that I would let him know when the public info session is coming up.
A bit of advice here. I've learned and been advised that if you find yourself in a threatening situation when it comes to politics:
- that you tell someone
- write down what happened and what was said
- stay away from that person
Other valuable advice is to watch how and whom you approach as well as what words you use. Be fair that the other person may not agree with your political point-of-view and don't use naughty words.
Hmmmmm...I'd better watch out. This is from a guy who volunteers in an organization that benefits children in my community. Anyways, just needed to spell out the opposition that I came up against one sunny morning this week. I'm sure I'm not the only one. I think it's best to ignore bullies - even ones in the community.
My husband wanted to confront him when he bumped into him next time on the street, just to protect me, but instead, I've told him to say nothing -- no need to antagonize someone when you don't know why they are so angry.
The drama unfolds in Oshawa!
And this now nicely ties in with answering Tuesday Question #3.
How can we ensure that Durham Region residents know that a proposed incinerator for Courtice, which is such a huge controversial issue, with global implications in terms of pollution affecting our health and environment and local implications for the same two reasons, plus a potential increase in taxes -- any ideas?
The following is my solid answer.
It's called communicating to the residents of Durham region. And how does one go about communicating about an incinerator to residents? By strategically planning and implementing a communications plan, including marketing and PR.
Let's treat Durham residents like a target market. A target market is exactly the people to whom you want to sell an idea to, sell a product to, or communicate an issue as highly controversial as an incinerator to. Now I'll be an idealist here and say that everyone has a right to know that a potential incinerator is going into Courtice because there are potential ill effects on health, the environment, including the animal and plant foods we consume, our property taxes, devaluation of homes from stigmatization when people don't want to buy a home near an incinerator, and probably more than I can imagine in this dream of incineration which is really a blatant nightmare.
How should the regional and/or local governments let residents know about the proposed incinerator? Through TV, radio, print, direct mail, telemarketing, the internet, a store-front in each municipality where people can drop by to pick-up information and ask staff questions, a moderated panel discussion, and if I can be so bold as to be too radical here, a referendum, allowing the people to choose.
The majority of awareness has been created in the Clarington This Week which doesn't inform all of Durham residents. It informs people who live in Clarington and who decide to have the paper delivered or decide to purchase it at a point-of-purchase display in a local store. That leaves out the people who don't read the paper, or people who only get the paper because the flyers tell them where all the sales are and the best stores to shop for discount merchandise. The number or lack of readership is important here.
According to Clarington Mayor Abernethy, as of April 21st, there have been 30 council meetings (I'm assuming he meant in Clarington, but don't quote me on this) that began in 2006. And according to Regional Chairman Roger Anderson in the week of April 21st, there have been 40 council meetings at regional council, many of them televised so he considers that letting his people know. I disagree. Expecting residents to show up to a Clarington or regional council meeting, or turning on the televised council meetings just for fun when you don't have a PhD in politics is not my idea of a good time. And I'm not going to switch on to listen to issues like potholes, busy streets, or supporting a local fundraiser just so that I can bide my time until something really controversial comes up that I can sink my teeth into. I was not, nor will I ever hang out in council chambers or watch the televised political moments unless I know there is something that I want to know about. Otherwise, I have other things that I have to do.
I am concerned that residents don't know about the issue or are uninformed, or even misinformed. According to Mr. Anderson, that's not true. So I must be imagining this. Just like he dreams of incineration as his answer to all of Durham's garbage issues. I must have dreamt that I dropped into conversation with friends, neighbours, acquaintances, including three doctors, one in the GTA, another in Pickering, and the last in Whitby. They didn't know about the incinerator issue until I said boo. I also tell people in casual conversation and I'm still coming across people who don't know about it, although the more I use word-of-mouth, which is how I found out about it in the first place, the more I have people asking me questions about incineration like I have the bible to garbage 101 in my back pocket and can spew off all the information they need to know. Many times I have to say "that's a valid point" or "that's an interesting question, I will have to get back to you on that one."
Mr. Anderson says that it's not true that residents out there don't know about the incinerator issue because it's been on the front page of every newspaper and there have been public information centres and he has been on Talk Politics on the Rogers station a number of times. So what I think in my reality is just not possible, so says Mr. Anderson.
Well here's a reality check. In reality, what front page of every newspaper are we talking about? Are we talking about the local newspapers stuffed with flyers that not everyone receives or are we talking the front page of the Toronto Star, the Globe & Mail, or the National Post. I see many people with the Star at home, but I've never noticed anything about incineration on the front page. And if it was, I 'm sure it would have made news once - whoopie.
What public information centres? I have walked the streets of Oshawa (in a good way) and driven up and down every one way street, visiting the Oshawa Centre, stores in strip malls, libraries, community centres, doctors offices. Where were these PICs because I never stumbled across one and I've been walking and driving around Oshawa and other municipalities of Durham since 2003.
And I'm sorry to burst a bubble, but Rogers TV is not the big time TV station we would all like to claim it is in Durham Region. I am more familiar with Hamilton's CHCH TV station than I'm with my own. Plus if you have Rogers like we subscribe to I'm watching programs from different stations across the country and listening to news that sounds funny because it's from another province.
And frankly, when I watched Talk Politics one Thursday night to listen to Mr. Anderson, I would much rather have been watching Grey's Anatomy, sorry but it's true. Talk Politics on a station that has mediocre professionalism -- there's not even an anchor room with a professionally dressed team for pete's sakes, or Grey's Anatomy -- I'll pick the latter. When I get a choice on a Thursday night, it's one of the hottest TV shows for me!
Marketing 101 - you have to hit your target market at least three times with different methods for them to even become aware. Residents have a right to be informed.
And why did they not opt for an eye-opening, stun them into thinking incineration is the next best thing with guidance from an advertising house and a PR firm? Because everyone would have been made aware of it and would have had an opportunity to speak out about it once they started to realize the bad reasons why we shouldn't build a state-of-the-art incinerator. Health, high taxes, health, pollution, health, nano-particles, health, devaluation of resale homes, health, stigmatization, health, cancer, health, children, health, animal and plant foods, health, asthma, health, cardiovascular disease, health, and emphysema. Did I express a grand concern about health here?
And how come I know all about the 407 extension way before I knew about the incinerator. And how come I have read more about the ethanol plant on Oshawa's waterfront than the incinerator. Because I read the local paper and because the ethanol plant may go on Oshawa's waterfront and because I am one of the readers of Oshawa This Week, therefore, I am informed by my municipal paper. Do I ever read about incineration in my local paper? Rarely.
And my husband and I are exposed to different media and so when neither of us picked up on the issue until November 2007 then there is a careless problem.
Or when my husband picks up incineration on a radio station for country music fans I have to ask myself how many people in Durham are hearing the radio spots that my husband hears.
For example, my husband likes country music and besides thinking that The Dixie Chicks rock the world because I bounced my colicky daughter to their DVD over and over again, and because they stood up to the crazy politics in the U.S. after Natalie's comment about Bush at a concert in England, I admire them. But I don't listen to KX 96 FM because I find country music painful for the most part. So I'm missing out on the radio spots talking about incineration that my husband hears about.
And here's an important thing to consider. You need to know the listenership, the demographics, including where people who listen to country music reside to determine if Regional Council is marketing to their target market. So is the demographics of KX 96 FM all of Durham Region because we all want to line dance, or have they been chosen simply because they are stationed out of the Oshawa Airport?
The next step is a public information session where a panel of experts can inform us about incineration and then we can ask intelligent questions about the pros and cons of incineration. This will help us understand the science that we are not experts in, it's not to make us feel emotionally better. On the flip-side, what is wrong with a bit of emotion when you sense danger where you live? When your entire family already has asthma and 3,000 doctors in France are telling their government to build no more incinerators in Europe because a comprehensive cancer study has shown an increase in cancer rates as high as 16% to 24% in specific cancers.
But then the public information session has been tabled with no date that the local government needs to make a decision by.
We are misinformed, uninformed and paralyzed. And perhaps in politics advertising and PR are not the skills required when making decisions. If that's the case, then maybe it's time politics incorporated communications skills and strategies that help foster great rapport with communities. Why should the burden be on the residents to figure things out, stay informed, and have to go looking for information that has an impact on their community and their health?
I'm still using word-of-mouth. Please spread the word safely and with respect for other people's opinions.
And Mrs. B, don't bother with bullies. 
