Speaking at Council or Committee
The purpose of the delegation process is to allow residents to make their views known to Council. Council welcomes and values input, comments, and suggestions.
Any individual or group requesting to speak at a Standing Committee or Council Meeting must first register as a delegation by completing the online registration form. Shortly after submission, staff will notify you if your request has been approved. The Clerk shall determine the appropriate Meeting date that a request for any Delegation may be listed.
Any individual or group appearing before Council or Committee as a delegation, will be incorporated into the publication of the meeting and will form part of the public record.
Delegations will be permitted without prior registration during any Public Meeting as required by section 14.1 of the Planning Act. Delegations are strongly encouraged to register before the standard delegation registration deadline and will be asked to fill in an attendance form to fulfill legislative notice requirements.
No Delegation from the public will be permitted at a Workshop. Additionally, delegations related to labour relations, ongoing legal proceedings, solicitation of business, matters not within the Town’s jurisdiction, or are anticipated to engage in unreasonable or offensive conduct and behaviour will not be permitted to appear as a delegate to Committee or Council.
Please note that submission of a delegation form does not guarantee the approval of your request for a delegation. Further, if you are registering only to be an observer in the audience and do not wish to speak, you do not need to register as a delegate and can watch the live webcast on the Town's YouTube channel.
Per Procedural By-Law 2022-04 (PDF), delegates are allowed a maximum of five (5) minutes to address Committee or Council. The allotted time includes any audio or video presentations, but does not include answering questions from Members of Council. The speaking time for a Delegation may only be extended by a majority vote of the Members of Council present.
If your delegation consists of a group of five or more people, one spokesperson may speak for a maximum of five (5) minutes.
Please note that you cannot address Committee or Council on the same issue more than once unless you provide new information. The new information must be outlined in a delegation form and submitted to the Clerk's office for review.
Materials relating to your delegation need to be submitted to the Clerk’s Office at the time of registration. Presentations must be in PowerPoint or Adobe PDF.
Delegations should prepare their presentation material using accessible formatting; suggestions include:
- using large font size (18 points or higher)
- including only a few bulleted points per slide
- using a high contrast colour scheme such as black or dark blue text on white background
- adding captions or alternative text to images or graphics
Any written correspondence will be shared with Council and committee members and staff. Further, written correspondence will also be included on the agenda, which will be published on the Town's Website and will form part of the public record. Please note that staff will not be providing hard copies to Council.
Delegations must abide by the rules of procedure and public conduct at Meetings. They will accept any Chair decisions and not enter into cross debate with Members of Council, other Delegations, or staff. Any discourse between Members and the Delegation will be limited to Members asking questions for clarification and obtaining additional, relevant information.
Since Council generally considers many issues and concerns at any given time, the following protocol is observed:
- When called upon by the Chair of the meeting, the delegation representative shall proceed immediately to the podium at the front of the Council Chambers.
- Remarks should be brief and to a maximum length of five (5) minutes
- Discussion on topics other than the subject matter of the delegation request will not be permitted. Subsequent delegations on the same topic, without significant new information, will not be permitted
- Delegations must abide by the rules of procedure and public conduct at meetings. They will accept any Chair decisions and not enter into a debate with members, other delegations, or staff. Any discourse between members and the delegation will be limited to members asking questions for clarification and obtaining additional, relevant information only.
- Delegations must address their remarks to the Chair and Members of the Committee (or if you are at Council to the Mayor and Members of Council. After the presentation’s completion, delegations must remain at the podium, and the Chair (or the Mayor at Council) will ask Members of Council if they have any questions.
- Once all questions have been asked, the Chair (or Mayor at Council) will thank delegations for their presentation, and they can return to their seat in the gallery. Following questions, Committee will not entertain any more comments from the delegation.
- Public members are reminded to refrain from making audible comments or noise (i.e., applause) while in the public gallery.
Disclaimer: All information submitted is considered public and subject to full disclosure under MFIPPA.
For questions or further information, contact the Clerk's Department by email or at 905-563-2799 ext. 513
The purpose of the delegation process is to allow residents to make their views known to Council.
Council welcomes and values input, comments, and suggestions. Since Council generally considers many issues and concerns at any given time, the following protocol is observed:
- When called upon by the Chair of the meeting, the delegation representative shall proceed immediately to the podium at the front of the Council Chambers.
- Remarks should be brief and to a maximum length of five (5) minutes
- Discussion on topics other than the subject matter of the delegation request will not be permitted. Subsequent delegations on the same topic, without significant new information, will not be permitted
- Delegations must abide by the rules of procedure and public conduct at meetings. They will accept any decisions of the Chair and not enter in a debate with members, other delegations, or staff. Any discourse between members and the delegation will be limited to members asking questions for clarification and obtaining additional, relevant information only.
- Delegations must address their remarks to the Chair and Members of the Committee (or if you are at Council, to the Mayor and Members of Council). After the presentation’s completion, delegations must remain at the podium and the Chair (or the Mayor at Council) will ask Members of Council if they have any questions.
- Once all questions have been asked, the Chair (or Mayor at Council) will thank delegations for their presentation, and they can return to their seat in the gallery. Following questions, the Committee will not entertain any more comments from the delegation.
- Members of the public are reminded to refrain from making audible comments or noise (i.e., applause) while in the public gallery.