Community: Civic Engagement

Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada.

Updated December 27, 2023

Page Contents:

Volunteerism |
Activism |
Civic engagement |
Voter participation

Civic engagement promotes the quality of life in our community, through both political and non-political processes. Civic engagement includes both paid and unpaid forms of political activism, environmentalism, and community service.

Volunteerism

Volunteerism makes a significant difference in PEC, providing time and expertise to allow the operation of services and programs that could not otherwise be delivered.

Volunteerism is strongly related to the social vitality of our community, and supporting the basic needs of our vulnerable populations: most volunteer hours contribute to organizations related to sports and recreation, social services, education, religion, food banks, and health.

PEC’s aging population has been cited as a challenge in terms of retaining volunteers, but the senior volunteer base is supplemented by the inflow of highly experienced and skilled early retirees moving into PEC.

Statistics Canada (Nov/22) data shows that the majority of organizations in the nonprofit sector are facing challenges related to volunteerism; 67% report facing a shortage of new volunteers, 51% report challenges with retention, 42% report that volunteers aren’t able to commit long term, 29% lack time or resources to recruit volunteers and 26% report high volunteer burnout and stress. The data also shows the impacts that this is having on organizations: 28% report that paid employees are working more hours, 35% report a reduction of programs or services, 17% report cancellation of programs and services and 21% report employee burnout.

Traditional volunteering changed during the pandemic. Younger generation volunteers were more available and grassroots, online community networks like Care Mongering PEC helped neighbours support each other by performing tasks such as grocery shopping or drug store pick-ups.

A volunteer at Prince Edward Learning Centre says “I’m filing people’s taxes, but I feel like I’m part of a larger picture. Every year I learn something new. For me, in retirement, it’s important to have a sense of meaning and purpose. This work gives me such a feeling of satisfaction. People are really appreciative.”

Recreation Outreach Centre’s (ROC) volunteer program connects teens with local community agencies and events.
Volunteer + Information Centre of Hastings and Prince Edward Counties refers volunteers to more than 275 agencies throughout the region.
Get Connected directory: Explore the directory to find communities of interest, activities, volunteer opportunities, and more.

Evan Nash, a long-time resident, business owner and volunteer, reflects on the changes he’s seen in The County, and the inherent caring nature of this community and how volunteerism drives positive change and promotes inclusivity.

Public awareness and activism

During 2020, public activism to address race, gender, class, religion and sexual orientation inequities became widespread. Protests and online activism are propelling action here in PEC.

60% of Canadians reported seeing racism as a serious issue, versus 47% a year ago.

Ipsos July 2020

Creating a sense of belonging for all the County’s residents includes acknowledging systemic
discrimination and intolerance. Individuals and non-profit sector organizations are increasingly engaged in this cause.

Civic engagement

A healthy democracy needs citizens who feel their votes count, are informed, participate, debate, and advocate. It needs governments at all levels to be transparent, inclusive, consultative, and trustworthy. In essence, political leadership, citizen participation, and communication demonstrate the level of democratic engagement. (University of Waterloo. Democratic engagement)

THRIVE PEC is a community-led development of a collaborative vision for the future of Prince Edward County. Join the conversation …

Have Your Say, Prince Edward County’s municipal online engagement website, invites residents to follow issues, share ideas, give feedback, and join the conversation to help shape County projects. This is an opportunity for everyone to have their say.

REPRESENT is an initiative to promote more balanced and reflective local government. It is a volunteer-run effort to connect, engage and support underrepresented people who are interested in participating in local government — women, First Nations and racialized people, gender diverse people, LGBTQIA2S people, people living with disabilities, and youth. For more information email representpec@gmail.com

Accessible Council meetings: All meetings of Council are live streamed for the benefit of those residents and interested individuals that are not able to attend in person. All recorded meetings are also posted to the archives so that residents can view past meetings at their leisure.

Citizen committees provide Council and staff with input about a wide variety of subjects through discussions, presentations and recommendations. Becoming a member of a citizen committee offers residents a unique chance to volunteer their highly valued skills and knowledge to strengthen our shared sense of community.

Youth engagement: Prince Edward County is looking to develop meaningful civic engagement opportunities for young people, and is the first municipality in Eastern Ontario to join forces with the Youth Council Coalition of Canada. The County participates in the YCC’s Hour-for-Hour Challenge which helps secondary school students learn how local government works through experiential learning opportunities. Participating students can also use the time towards their required 40 hours of volunteer service. For more information contact Joy McLeod, Executive Assistant to the Mayor, by emailing jmcleod@pecounty.on.ca

Voter participation

Federal Electoral District: Bay of Quinte (Baie de Quinte)

This riding was created in 2012 by the federal electoral boundaries redistribution. The riding contains the municipalities of Prince Edward County, Quinte West and that part of Belleville south of Highway 401

Provincial Electoral District: Bay of Quinte

This riding was created in 2015. It elects one member to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Ontario elections are held every 4 years on the first Thursday in June. The first election for this district was in 2018.

Municipal
Prince Edward is not a county by the standard Ontario definition — it is a single-tier municipal government with city status that handles all municipal services.

In support of the planning for the 2022 election, Council adopted a hybrid method of voting to support both online and in-person voting to improve the accessibility of voting for all residents in the County.

ELECTION	PEC 2011	PEC 2016	PEC 2021	PEC 2022	ON	SOURCE
Federal	54.0%	68% (2015)	65%	--	75% (2021)	Stats Can
Provincial	--	--	56% (2018)	45.6% (2022)	43.53% (2022)	Stats Can
Municipal	--	--	43.3% (2018)	47.1% (2022)	36.3% (2022)	Association of Municipalities Ontario