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COMMENTARY: The Good Ship Stratford has lost her rudder, writes former mayor

A year ago, longtime heritage advocate Kirsten Connor wrote in The Guardian about elected officials in Charlottetown and Stratford who, in her view, had become increasingly disconnected from the people who elected them.

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With the municipal elections approaching on Nov. 2, I believe it is an appropriate time to reflect on the relationship between Stratford’s town council and the residents it represents, particularly when it comes to public participation, heritage and trust.

I have watched this issue develop over the last number of years.

When Stratford’s first mayor and council were elected in November 1994, we faced the enormous task of creating a new municipality from five existing communities. Before the new town officially came into existence on April 1, 1995, we had to establish municipal offices, organize staff, combine the administrative affairs of the former communities, maintain recreation and other services, and create a system of governance suitable for the new town.

We found a home for the town’s offices and staff in the former Bunbury School and worked to ensure that Stratford was ready to function from its first official day. We also worked together with the new town’s residents to adopt a new name that reflected our new combined community as well as honouring our shared history – Stratford.

Two matters were particularly important to us: preserving the heritage of the communities that had come together to form Stratford and establishing a committee system that gave residents a meaningful role in municipal government.

The communities that became Stratford each had histories stretching back more than two centuries. Although they shared much in........

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