Three former New West Progressives candidates have joined forces with several other local residents – including three former independent candidates for council – to launch the New West Council Watch blog. The blog is operated by volunteers and aims to serve as a counter-point to the current city administration which is governed 100% by a single political party.
![\"\"](\"https://nwprogressives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/UnaniMeter.jpg\")
\”This is going to be a great forum to provide for more accountability and transparency at city hall,\” says Daniel Fontaine, former city council candidate. \”When a single political entity controls 100% of the power and seats at city hall clearly it requires a unique response.\”
In addition to Fontaine, former New West Progressives city candidates Paul McNamara and Lisa Falbo are founding contributors. The other four contributing writers include Nikki Binns and Harm Woldring, both of whom ran as independent candidates for mayor. Benny Ogden who ran as an independent for council and Ashifa Dhanani, a long-time Queensborough resident and active community volunteer will also be contributing to the blog.
The blog includes a new \’UnaniMeter\’ which will help to better track how often city council votes unanimously – something local politicians have been criticized for over the last four years after the District Labour Council endorsed candidates swept every seat at city hall in 2014. So far, the new council have voted unanimously through to the end of December 2018.
\”I\’m proud to be a founding contributor of this new blog,\” says McNamara. \”It will serve to shed more light and provide a bit more balance when it comes to the political discussion taking place in our community.\”
Residents and business owners are also being encouraged to provide feedback and submit guest posts which will be published on New West Council Watch. The blog is supported by the New West Progressives Elector Coalition Society, but the opinions expressed are those of the contributors. To learn more about the political circumstances that led to the launch of the new blog, click here.