1. Local issues that matter to you
Windsor Votes 301
Local issues that matter to you

2. Overview Windsor Votes 101 and 201, A Quick Recap
Group Activity #1 – Your Neighbourhood’s Priorities
CBC In Your Community
Questions for your Candidates – Content
Questions for your Candidates – Effective, Ineffective, and Developing an Argument
“Grading” your Candidates
Group Activity #2 Using the Rubric and Discussion
Group Activity #3 Developing an argument and coming up with a question
Final Thoughts

3. Housekeeping & GROUND RULES
Some topics we will be controversial. That said we will still need to keep the conversation open so that everyone can be a part of the solution.
Considering this, here are some ground rules…
Always remember: We are ALL here because we CARE about our community
Don’t be afraid to ask questions
Be respectful of others at all time
We have a lot to go through with little time, a facilitator may ask that we move on to keep on track

4. A QUICK Recap of workshops 101 & 201

5. Recap of workshop 101- Why your vote matters
How your vote matters
Voting impacts multiple municipal issues at once. It’s important to connect with a candidate that aligns well with your hopes for your community
How your advocacy matters.
The work doesn’t start and stop in an election year.
Connecting with your neighbours
Connecting with you councillor
Your gift, your skill, or your talent is a vital part of the solution. More people doing their part to solve a challenge leads to a better chance for success

6. Recap of workshop 201- Getting involved
Voting Basics
Voting Station Locator ;
Ways to be an effective advocate
Understanding how your voice and vote works at multiple levels of government leads to knowing what to expect of the process and how to put pressure on making that process work for you and your community.

7. How do these things tie together?
The challenges and issues that matter most to you can be addressed by knowing…
What part we can all play in addressing them.
What the responsibilities of others are
How we can effectively communicate our concerns about the issue and why it’s important

8. activity #1: Listing the issues
Listing challenges
Initial convo about issues that impact multiple wards
activity #1: Listing the issues
Activity
Individually: 2 minutes write down the top 2-3 priorities in your neighbourhood (by yourself)
In a Group: minutes discuss your top 2-3 priorities with your group.
Keep in mind where people live (neighbourhoods)
What are the similarities and differences in the priorities
What was surprising?
Did you find any common issues?
Did any appear to be more ward or neighbourhood specific?

9. CBC Windsor-- IN YOUR COMMUNITY

10. - “We want someone to start caring about the small people”- Ward 1 -”working in the area we would love to see more parking”- Ward 4 -”My husband is worried about the roads” Ward 4 -”I would like to see a lot of safe bicycling lanes in this city” – Ward 3 echoed in 1,4 -”this is ridiculous, I have never seen so many homeless, its sad to see” Ward 3 -”They gotta do something!” -“I would like to see someway to slow down some traffic” –Ward 5 -”lets showcase our history”- Ward 5 -”I liked to see improvement of bus system” – Ward 2 “It appears that they’re taking away from us;

11. https://www. cbc. ca/news/cbc-windsor-in-your-community-ward-1-1

12. Keep in mind…
You may not be able to agree with the person 100% of the time (and that’s OK) but what DO you agree with?
Do you trust that they will listen to you in a meaningful way?
Do you agree with the majority of their platform?
The candidates will be trying to work with you, your neighbours, and other stakeholders (city administration, other councillors, businesses, community groups etc) who may have different ideas about what the challenges are and how they should be dealt with.

13. Questions for your candidates - content
Knowledge testing questions
What do they know about ward issues? What’s currently on their radar? What isn’t?
These questions are important so that you can judge their level in capacity and whether they are in touch with the challenges facing your community
E.g. Ward 10 :
What do you know about the traffic issues that are occurring due to the new fire station build?”
Do you know of any unintended consequences due to the new fire station build?
Clarification questions
Why isn’t the particular issue on their radar?

14. Questions for your candidates - content
Action/Planning Based Questions
What will they do about ward issues? What steps will they take to change/improve situation? What are their goals? How will they accomplish their goals?
These questions will help develop an expectation and also a general understanding of their approach to working on challenges faced in the community.
E.G. Speeding has been found to be a particularly challenging issue in ___. What is your plan to reduce speeding in ___?

15. Questions for your candidates - Content
Evaluation Questions
How will they evaluate their success?
Eg. How will you know that the streets are safer in ____?
Communication based questions
How will they let people know about their results? How will residents feel like they have been part of the solution to the concern, and its success?

16. Questions for your Candidates – Effective, Ineffective, and Developing an Argument

17. The true importance of your questions will be the responses that you receive from them. Effective questions are those that go to the heart of the issue you are interested in while also ensuring you can have enough of a relationship built up to ask a follow up or clarification question.

18. Question pitfalls
These types of questions may at first seem satisfying at first but may prevent follow up or clarification question.
Leading questions
Questions that prompt the respondent to answer in an expected way
Can be helpful in directing/organizing your argument but if done overtly it can detract from your overall goal
Hostile questions
Unfriendly or aggressive questions
Can be used to test candidate BUT remember you may still need to work with this person
Gotcha questions
A question designed to entrap an individual into statements that are damaging or discreditable.
These do not build relationships!

19. So you do everything right, you ask a solid question but they individual still doesn’t respond OR puts the question back on you?
What now?

21. First, self reflect If they don’t answer the question, ask yourself…
Do you need to further clarify your question?
Planning ahead and making sure you have a few ways to explain or reshape your question can help ensure its clarity.
Do they need time to get back to you? – That’s Fair people are HUMAN!
Are they trying to avoid your question?
Are there any other “tells” that can help you discern if they are avoiding the question. (We’ll talk about this soon!)
If they put the question back on you …
Sometimes they need time to think
Sometimes they want to involve you in the solution of the challenge
Either way, this is where you need to have your point of view and argument well established and understood.

22. ESTABLISHING YOUR Argument
Much like a strong delegation, you can build your argument by considering the following points…
Economic: How does the challenge impact your finances? Your Neighbours finances? How does the challenge impact the city’s finances now or in the near future?
Safety: Does the challenge impact your safety? Public safety? How can it be improved.
Social: How can the issue you are arguing for support your neighbourhood? How can it negatively impact your neighbourhood? Will it make other challenges worse? Can it possibly reduce neighbourhood challenges?
Health: Can the issue lead to health concerns? Has the issue already impacted health? Could be environmental health or the health of first responders.
Personal: How does a personal story help support the above mentioned themes?
Example: Vacant Building Strategy

23. “Grading” your candidates
IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT WHAT THEY SAY…

24. “Grading” your candidates
Refer to your rubric!
Communication – what did their body language tell you? Consider the tone, speed clarity – what did this tell you?
Competence – did they appear knowledgeable about your concern, and have a clear response or idea of how they would address it?
Trustworthy – do they appear to be open to working with the residents of your ward, and are their responses in line with your priorities? Will they represent your neighbourhood’s concerns well at Council?
Grade yourself!
How did you ask the question? Are you knowledgeable about the challenge? Are you someone who could work well with your neighbours and Councillor, whoever gets in, to address the challenge?

25. Group Activity #2 – Using the rubric and discussion
How did you grade the politician answering the question?
Communication
Competence
Trustworthiness

26. Group Activity #3 – Arguments and questions
Return to the challenges and priorities that you discussed in the first group activity – Agree as a group to focus on one of them.
Come up with some arguments about why, A. It is a challenge, and B. What actions are needed to address it. What are the different ways you can think about it (Eg. Economic, Social, Impact on Safety, Impact on You)
Once you have your arguments, write out effective questions that will gauge how knowledgeable the candidate is about the challenge, what they would do about it, what success looks like, and how you will be part of that process.
Keep in mind what neighbourhoods and Wards people live in – How does the challenge change or remain the same across Windsor?

27. Remember…
You may not be able to agree with the person 100% of the time (and that’s OK) but what DO you agree with?
Do you trust that they will listen to you in a meaningful way?
Do you agree with the majority of their platform?
Keep in mind the candidates will be trying to work with you, your neighbourhoods and other stakeholders (city administration, other councillors, businesses, community groups etc) who may have different ideas about what the challenges are and how they should be dealt with.

28. Candidate information
City of Windsor Website
Rose City Politics
Major Media, like: CBC Windsor, CTV Windsor, The Windsor Star, AM800
Promote the Vote
Are we missing anything?

29. Get involved and continue the conversations
Our West End Neighbourhood Renewal
@ourwestend
Downtown Windsor Community Collaborative
@dwccollaborative
The Initiative: Glengarry Neighbourhood Renewal
@TheIGNR
Ford City Neighbourhood Renewal
@fordcityneighbourhoodrenewal