Citizen Panel FAQ
- What is a Citizen Panel?
- Is this a public forum or a poll?
- What is the goal of the Citizen Panel?
- What is Edmonton's City Vision?
- What will the Citizen Panel discuss?
- Will City Council have to do what the Citizen Panel says?
- How will other Edmontonians know what the Citizen Panel is discussing?
- What if I don’t agree with what these Citizen Panel members come up with?
- Has a Citizen Panel been used anywhere else before?
- 1. What is a Citizen Panel?
An innovative way of engaging citizens from diverse backgrounds to meet, learn about and discuss and make recommendations on a specific issue. The issue the Edmonton Citizen Panel is looking at is how Edmontonians can best invest our resources to build the city we want.
- 2. Is this a public forum or a poll?
No. The Citizen Panel is different as it gives the panel members an opportunity to learn more about city issues before providing recommendations. The goal is to gain informed citizen opinion by creating an opportunity for Edmontonians to learn more about their city and to exchange ideas and insights with each other about how to best invest city resources to build the city citizens want.
- 3. What is the goal of the Citizen Panel?
To provide City Council with their informed recommendations on how to best invest city resources to build the city Edmontonians said they wanted in creating the Vision for Edmonton.
- 4. What is Edmonton's City Vision?
The City Vision was created with the input of thousands of Edmontonians and captures a diversity of ideas, aspirations and dreams that culminate in the City’s Vision of Edmonton in 2040.
- 5. What will the Citizen Panel discuss?
The Citizen Panel will learn about and discuss three interrelated approaches over a series of six Saturdays. These perspectives are rooted in the City’s Strategic Plan that sets out ten-year goals and three-year priorities designed to help our city reach its Vision.
The Citizen Panel will explore such things as how do we make our city better connected, how do we continue to keep Edmonton a great place to live and how can citizens and government better connect beyond elections to work together to create the city all of us will be even more proud of.
- 6. Will City Council have to do what the Citizen Panel says?
No. City Council has agreed to seriously consider the Citizen Panel recommendations when they deliberate the 2010-2011 budget.
The Citizen Panel is one more way of giving City Councillors information about how Edmontonians want their resources directed. The City of Edmonton is committed to involving the people affected by a decision in the decisions. This is one more way of involving citizens.
- 7. How will other Edmontonians know what the Citizen Panel is discussing?
At the end of each session, an overview of the discussion will be published on this website.
- 8. What if I don’t agree with what these Citizen Panel members come up with?
The Citizen Panel is an additional way of providing citizen input to City decision makers. There continue to be many other ways of providing your input. You can call or write your city councillor, appear at public hearings before council and take part in the many public involvement events held on various issues in your neighbourhood or around the city. (links to public involvement calendar).
- 9. Has a Citizen Panel been used anywhere else before?
Yes. Citizen Panel like deliberations have happened in Toronto and Guelph, Ontario. The budget for social housing in Toronto and for family services in Guelph are decided, in part, through a public deliberation similar to the Edmonton Citizen Panel.
Outside of Canada, the city of Porto Alegre in Brazil provides an example of public participation in civic budgeting that has been successfully operating since 1989. For information about the Toronto, Guelph, and Porto Alegre examples, see http://www.nhi.org/online/issues/146/canadianprogram-spendinging.html
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