The First 100 Days Report

THE FIRST
100
DAYS
MARYAM MONSEF, MP PETERBOROUGH-KAWARTHA
The #first100 days of this new
government are already behind
us, making this a good time for me
as your MP to reflect on what has
already been accomplished and what
challenges lay before us.
It has been a busy time in
Peterborough-Kawartha: two town
halls with over 400 participants, a
jobs summit within 90 days of being
elected, over 60 meetings on a wide
variety of topics with community
leaders and constituents in the
County and City, and even a Petes
game or two.
Through it all though, the message that I have heard over the past 100
days is the same message I heard during the campaign at door after door,
across 10 roundtables, on the phones, and at the farmer’s markets. The
number one issue in our community is the state of our local economy and
the need for more economic opportunities so that future generations
can have a vibrant and stable community to call home.
The evidence supports the need for more local jobs. Our unemployment
rate in January 2016 was 7.6%. While this is better than the 8.6% it
was at in November 2015, it is still high compared to the provincial rate
of 6.7%. In December 2015, there were 4,900 people looking for work
who could not find a job and according to the 2014 Vital Signs report,
the Peterborough region has a 16.3% poverty rate.
What gives me a tremendous amount of hope for the future is the
wealth of talent and resources we have here in Peterborough-Kawartha.
We already have many of the ingredients necessary for economic
success: our proximity to markets by road, water, air and rail; our two
excellent post- secondary institutions, which are consistently producing
high-caliber graduates; a groundswell of young entrepreneurial talent
and the organizations devoted to their success; and the extraordinary
work-life balance we offer in our urban and rural areas.
As a next step, I will be creating an economic and jobs development
advisory committee, populated by both private and public sector job
creators, with a mandate to identify key Federal investments that will
facilitate job creation in our community. This committee will build on the
ideas raised during the summit and help translate the suggestions into
specific actions, which I can advocate for within the government.
We need to maximize our assets and advocate for action. Key
to our success is our ability to change the narrative about our
community by celebrating the people of Peterborough-Kawartha.
While it is critical to acknowledge and work on existing gaps, the
way we speak about our community will determine the way others
see us. If we are going to attract new investors and retain those
already committed here, we need to enhance our efforts to tell our
community’s stories of strength and innovation. PeterboroughKawartha is full of inspiring, hard-working, and talented individuals
who are striving to make our region a better place to live, work
and play. We need to tell their stories, recognize their successes,
and empower community champions to excel. And we need to do
this together, as #TeamPtbo.
In this report, you will find a public record of the conversations I
have had over the past 100 days as well as my commitments to our
community moving forward. I hope that it will inspire you to join
#TeamPtbo– to help change our narrative about our community,
to work together to create good conditions for economic growth,
and to recognize the exceptional community we have here in
Peterborough-Kawartha.
Truly,
A different way of
doing politics requires
a new approach to
community consultation
and citizen engagement.
CONVERSATION
GUIDELINES
• Listen carefully and with
respect
• Everyone gets an opportunity to speak
• Speak for yourself &
participate as equals
• Respect others’ opinions • Agree to disagree - with
ideas, not people
• Silence cell phones
OUR GOALS
1. To engage citizens in
a new way, one that
empowers each of us
to participate in our
democracy
2. To provide the opportunity
for everyone to tell their
stories and share what is
important to them
3. To offer an inclusive and
respectful way for us to
work together
With regard to our economy, what are the top 3
strengths/assets of the Peterborough-Kawartha region?
4. To take an Asset-Based
approach to economic
development and
community consultation
TOWNHALL
COMMUNITY
CONVERSATION
TOWN HALL #1
DATE: Sat. Dec. 12, 2015
LOCATION: Evinrude Centre
TIME: 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
ATTENDANCE:
Approximately 300 people
TOWN HALL #2
COMMUNITY CONSULTATION
DATE: Mon. Jan. 11, 2016
LOCATION: Trinity Hall
TIME: 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm
ATTENDANCE:
Approximately 135 people
16
JOBS
SUMMIT
DATE: Thur. Jan. 14, 2016
LOCATION: Seeds of Change
TIME: 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
ATTENDANCE:
Approximately 125 people
ONLINE
SURVEY
AVAILABLE ONLINE FROM:
January 4-28, 2016
PARTICIPATION:
161 completed surveys
In December and January, more than 400 citizens came out to join our
community town halls. We gathered in a new way – to share what is
important to us, why we love Peterborough-Kawartha, and to identify
what possibilities we see for our future.
My team and I came out of our gatherings truly inspired by those who
participated and by the strategies that emerged for our community. Your
ideas are diverse and each one has value. Together we can build on what
is great about our region and foster a thriving community for ourselves
and for generations to come.
COMMUNITY FEEDBACK
“The participatory format was brilliant. Thank you. I met 6 new people and
heard their stories. This is part of what democratic reform could look like.”
“Very much appreciative of the positive and collaborative approach.”
“Refreshing change in the way of ‘doing politics’. Keep it up.”
“Loved it! Well done! Just participating created hope and a sense of belonging,
having an impact and connection to a ‘bigger picture’.”
“Do this type of meeting quarterly – it will build a strong community & nation.”
“Excellent opportunity to meet and talk to new people and to hear a broad
range of concerns/dreams and recognize solidarities.”
Want to know more about what happened at our community
gatherings or what people had to say in the survey?
Please see our #first100 days addendum for a complete summary
of the feedback and findings at www.maryammonsef.ca
WORKING TOGETHER
In order to make the most of our community assets and help create
the conditions necessary for job creation, we need to bring together a
number of partners and champions – those in our community who lead
economic development efforts, those who can provide funding and
capacity building, and those who work directly with community members
seeking better economic opportunities.
To be clear, working together requires participation across sectors,
generations and cultures. This includes:
• All levels of government – federal, provincial and municipal
• The private sector, including large, medium and small enterprises,
as well as start-ups and entrepreneurs
• Business, professional and labour organizations
• Civil society, especially those who support individuals in our
community who cannot find the jobs they need to succeed
• Job seekers
city & county
Environment and Sustainability
Sector Representatives
Education & Training
Entrepreneurship
Agriculture
business owners
Thought
Leaders
who is in the room?
job seekers
Funding
employees
Arts & Culture
Business
Employment Services
Organizations
Citizens
Labour
& Associations Health
Community Advocates First Nations
Immigration
municipal, provincial & Federal Government & Settlement
Economic Development
Social
Services
Youth
In all of our community consultations so far, we have strived to include
representatives from all of these groups and others. We will continue
to work to ensure that all of these critical voices are represented and
heard in future gatherings. This is important because we have learned
that these gatherings are much more than a means to an end. Coming
together as neighbours and colleagues achieves an important end in
itself: strengthening our sense of community and belonging.
This collaborative approach is in line with the values I promised to
uphold to during the campaign: inclusion and diversity; accountability and
transparency; and access and engagement. I will continue to champion
a cooperative path forward for our community because as Warden J.
Murray Jones says, we are all in this together.
Collaboration
is not about
gluing together egos.
It’s about the ideas
that never existed
until after everyone
entered the room.
ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
COMMUNITY
STAKEHOLDERS
Tonya Kraan,
Community Futures
Stuart Harrison,
Chamber of Commerce
Monique Beneteau,
Peterborough Health Unit
Allan Seabrooke,
City of Peterborough
Terry Guiel, Downtown
Business Improvement
Association
Martin Yuill,
Greater Peterborough
Innovation Cluster,
Fast Start
Marion Burton,
Peterborough District
Labour Council & Workers
Action Centre
Brenda Dales,
Peterborough Social
Planning Council
Michael Andrews,
Workforce Development
Board
Peterborough Economic
Development
Transition Town
Start Up Peterborough
STAKEHOLDER JOBS SUMMIT
I heard throughout the campaign just how important the issues of jobs
and economic development is to you and to our community. As a result,
I committed to hosting a Jobs Summit within 90 days of the election. To
ensure that my team and I planned a successful event for our community,
we consulted economic development stakeholders and asked them how
we could best use our time together, what it was that we - as a community
- needed to do to realize our potential. The work these organizations do
is often done quietly and behind the scenes. I will take this opportunity
to thank these hard-working community leaders for all the work they
do towards a stronger, more resilient Peterborough-Kawartha and our
ongoing collaboration. Here’s a summary of our conversations prior to
the Jobs Summit:
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE HAPPEN AT THE JOB SUMMIT?
• Opportunity to hear what community members are working on.
• Bring together the focus on assets and possibilities.
• Stakeholders get in a room and start to figure it out – working together.
We need to be redesigning, reinterpreting.
WHAT KIND OF OUTCOME(S) WOULD YOU BE LOOKING FOR?
• Cross section of stakeholders coming together to talk about broad strategies.
• Agreement on working collectively as a group to take on a challenge that
is for the benefit of our city and region.
• Leaving the room with implementable strategies for what we can do together.
• Solution-based ideas with deliberate post session follow-up,
accountability, and a commitment to action.
HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR OUR COMMUNITY TO HAVE A COMMON
VISION TO BE WORKING TOWARDS?
• Emphasis must be on the word common. We all need to have the
essential goal in mind.
• We need to have a road map, is it one vision or a complement of visions?
• Important – like the branding of the community. We need to answer the
questions: What will our economy be based on? What kind of jobs will
make this region strong?
WHAT ARE THE TOP 3 THINGS THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE HAPPEN
TO FURTHER DEVELOP A COLLABORATIVE COMMUNITY APPROACH TO
FOSTERING ECONOMIC PROSPERITY?
• Regular meetings with key stakeholders divided into into effective
working groups and/or task forces.
• Less barriers and red tape at all levels of government.
• Ensuring we listen to all the voices.
• Needs and desires of stakeholder and funders need to be aligned.
• Encouraging and making it safe for people to collaborate. Remove the
concerns of potential failure. Reinforce a collective and leverage the
competencies.
NEXT STEPS
THE PATH FORWARD
To recap, creating the conditions necessary for economic growth will
take a community approach and a collaborative effort.
I believe my role, as Member of Parliament for Peterborough-Kawartha,
in this effort is in four parts:
1. To champion a collaborative approach that is open, inclusive, and
asset-based.
2. To act as a community convener, bringing key individuals and
organizations together.
3. To advocate for specific key federal investments that build on our
community assets and which will assist in the creation of long term
sustainable jobs.
4. To leverage platforms available to me to help enhance the narrative
about Peterborough-Kawartha.
JOBS SUMMIT
WORKING GROUPS
After exploring the ideas generated
during the Jobs Summit, the
following working groups and their
local champion emerged through a
Design Lab module.
DESIGN LAB IDEA 1:
Commit to best practice tools
to ensure all beneficiaries are
considered in projects & policies.
GROUP CONVERSATION HOST:
Lynn Zimmer, YWCA
DESIGN LAB IDEA 2:
Create a ‘Show and Tell’ Event
that allows stakeholders to get to
know one another and share what
each organization is working on.
GROUP CONVERSATION HOST:
Monique Beneteau, Peterborough
Health Unit
DESIGN LAB IDEA 3:
With this in mind, the next steps arising from these community
consultations are below. This is not an exhaustive list, but rather the
items that will be prioritized over the coming year.
Effective Urban Design.
Design our regional planning
to facilitate/spur economic
prosperity/diversification for our
region.
PRIORITIES
GROUP CONVERSATION HOST:
Allan Seabrooke,
City of Peterborough
1. Engage private and public sector members in the creation of an
economic and jobs development advisory committee with a
mandate to identify government investments which will facilitate
job creation in key areas like manufacturing, small business, tourism,
health care, education, environmental protection, arts and culture
and others.
2. Co-ordinate the efforts of the Jobs Summit Working Groups with
those of the advisory committee to develop key recommendations
which will assist their ideas to move forward.
3. Continue to map our community assets, and through a wide
variety of outreach approaches, including future Town Halls and
community consultations, continue to identify the strengths that
exist in Peterborough-Kawartha.
4. Host an annual Job Summit that is inclusive of all voices and brings
together key economic development partners.
DESIGN LAB IDEA 4:
Develop a centre for research,
development and investment to
create jobs that relate to the goal
of adaptation and mitigation of
climate change in the region.
GROUP CONVERSATION HOST:
Raul Ponce, Trent University
DESIGN LAB IDEA 5:
Mentoring for/by young people
to find work, start ups, life skills
and career knowledge.
GROUP CONVERSATION HOST:
Don Bocking, YES Shelter
DESIGN LAB IDEA 6:
Create a model to connect
industries, labour supply
with public demand to create
sustainable employment
opportunities.
GROUP CONVERSATION HOST:
Brenda Dales, Peterborough
Socail Planning Council
OFFICE INFORMATION
CONSTITUENT SERVICES
In order to best serve the constituents of
Peterborough-Kawartha, Maryam has opened a full
time office in the City of Peterborough as well as
rotating rural offices in the County of Peterborough.
Constituents are welcome to drop in during the office
hours below, or call in to make an appointment.
As the federal representative for PeterboroughKawartha, Maryam will make every effort to assist
constituents with a broad range of issues, and may be
able to help constituents interact with various federal
departments and agencies. The following services and
assistance are provided to constituents in the riding of
Peterborough-Kawartha:
• Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Old Age Security
(OAS), Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS)
• Canada Post
• Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)
• Canada Student Loans
• Congratulatory Scrolls
• Employment Insurance Benefits (EI)
• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)
• Parole Board of Canada
• Passport Canada
• Travel
• Veterans Affairs
• Government Information
CITY OF PETERBOROUGH
Suite 4 (Ground Floor), 417 Bethune Street,
Peterborough, ON K9H 3Z1
Monday-Friday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
DOURO-DUMMER
Township Office, 894 South Street, Warsaw
First Tuesday of each month, starting Feb. 2
9:30 am – 4:30 pm
TRENT LAKES
Township Office, 760 County Rd 36, Trent Lakes
Second Tuesday of each month, starting Feb. 9
9:30 am – 4:30 pm
SELWYN
Scout Ship, 13 Water Street North, Lakefield
Second Thursday of each month, starting Feb. 11
9:30 am – 4:30 pm
NORTH KAWARTHA
North Kawartha Public Library (Boardroom),
175 Burleigh Street, Apsley
Third Thursday of each month, starting Feb. 18
9:30 AM – 4:30 pm
HAVELOCK-BELMONT-METHUEN
Township Office, 1 Ottawa Street East, Havelock
Fourth Wednesday of each month, starting Feb. 24
9:30 am – 4:30 pm
Ottawa Office
Room 546-S, Centre Block, Ottawa ON K1A 0A6
Tel: (613) 995-6411 Fax: (613) 996-9800
The offices in Peterborough-Kawartha are staffed by a
team of local professionals who will work diligently to
assist constituents in need of assistance dealing with
Federal departments and agencies. While all staff can
help constituents on any issue, you may also contact
specific individuals with your inquiry:
Meeting requests and media inquiries: Lauren
Citizenship and immigration issues: Marisa
All other federal departments and agencies: Peter
Congratulatory Scrolls & passport reviews: Shivaan
Please note that while Maryam will do everything she can
to assist constituents in dealing with Federal departments
and agencies, ethics rules prohibit her and her staff from
providing legal advice, or intervening in legal, judicial,
or police proceedings.
Constituency Office
Suite 4, 417 Bethune St, Peterborough, K9H 3Z1
Tel: (705) 745-2108 Fax: (705) 741-4123
maryam.monsef@parl.gc.ca | www.maryammonsef.ca | Toll-Free: 1 (800) 567-8554