$100

POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

June 13, 2026

Below is the fourth newsletter for our objective to flip the flow of how we are governed. Instead of giving our power to the politicians … Let’s give that power to the people and let the people build their communities and govern themselves. We will issue these newsletters every 2-weeks between now and our local Election Day on October 26.

Imagine the people governing themselves. We can.

It is doable. But we will have to revolutionize ourselves to change that flow. We can do that too.

This mission starts local — from the neighbours in our communities to our local Town Hall. And the more that other communities do the same, the more the power of the people will flow into provincial and state capitals and right into the seats of the federal government.

We are starting it in our own local community … The Front of Yonge Township in Eastern Ontario Canada. Hopefully, we are setting an example for other communities to do the same.

Power to the People!

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$100

NEWSLETTER - JUNE 13 2026

Imagine that you are walking down the street and you see a $100 bill lying on the ground.

You would bend down and pick it up … I would and I believe most of us would. It would take us about 3-seconds.

But Elon Musk would not. He can’t afford to.

Elon Musk’s net worth growth generally ranges from $6,000 to over $13,000 every second.

The three seconds it would take him to bend down, grasp it, and stand back up would cost him $18,000 to $39,000. He cannot afford it. Picking up that $100 bill would cost him — and it’s not even a close call.

When we consider the magnitude of Elon Musk’s wealth, we can reflect on how much we – as Canadians – earn. Our national GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is about $2.5-Trillion a year. Collectively – all of us Canadians combined – earn a total of $2.5-Trillion a year. Elon Musk now is worth $1.1-Trillion (US Dollars which is over $1.5-Trillion Canadian Dollars). One single person is worth as much as we — all together as Canadians — produce in 7.2 months of work.

Is this a good thing for our society? We have to ask because society is about living in a community.

This is not just a theoretical question. We actually used to have a different reality. But that reality has changed.

When I was born (1957) the top marginal tax rate on income was 91%. It was levied on incomes over $400,000. Our top federal marginal tax rate in 2025 is 33%. In 1957, there was (maybe) one single billionaire (J Paul Getty who was worth between $700-million and $1-billion). We did not have a “billionaire problem”.

Today, there are 3,428 of them. And more being added. Today, we have a “billionaire problem”.

It is hard to find out how much Elon Musk actually pays in taxes as tax returns are private. But it is nowhere near 91% — and it’s nowhere near 33% either. His corporations pay some taxes — Tesla paid about $1.2-billion in 2025. But most of that was to foreign governments including China. SpaceX did not pay much at all due to research and depreciation credits.

Anyways, we need to ask ourselves if having such extreme levels of wealth concentrated in the hands of the very few is a good thing for our society. Maybe some think it is a good thing. But — it is certainly a discussion we need to have. It is our society and it is our community. And taxation and equity are tools a democratic society has to work with.

We have now knocked on almost 200 doors across our Township. We have good neighbours among us. Many of us are quirky in numerous ways — but certainly the vast majority of us are good neighbours to have. The foundation of our community is healthy which is a wonderful thing.

Most of us are glad to share our thoughts about how our society is functioning. We see the same problems. One example is the consistency we share on the subject of trust. And I am not talking about trust issues we have with each other — most of us are good with each other.

But when we discuss our level of trust in our governments, our institutions, our corporations and our media, we are pretty uniform about its complete absence. There is little to no trust in any of them. What I think we did not realize is that we actually share that same sentiment.

We really have some common ground here. There is very little – if any at all – trust in the institutions that our system has created. And there is zero confidence in our governments changing that. In fact, most of us expect their actions to deliver even worse outcomes for us all going forward.

Rooted within our lack of trust is our common sense that the system we have is broken and corrupt. We sense that the ‘privileged wealthy’ individuals have distorted our public institutions to their exclusive favour. And it is a trend that is moving ever further in the wrong direction.

This sentiment punctuates the need to change how we govern ourselves. Simply put, what we are doing now is not working.

As stated in our previous newsletters and videos, we have a problem and we have to fix it. The problem is in the flow of power. It is flowing downwards from federal to provincial levels to our local Town Halls and finally to us - the people - who reside on the bottom rung of that ladder. That is backwards and we have to flip it right-side up. In democracy, it is we the people who are the top rung. Look at 1(a). “Government by the people.”

We need to embrace our power and govern ourselves. That is what our effort here is all about. Democracy actually requires it.

And - right here in the Front of Yonge Township - is where we can set an example for all the other communities across Ontario, Canada and even beyond.

Our first step is for us to band together and build our community together. To focus on coming together and actually making our local Town Hall represent what we - together - want our community to be. We will get it right. From all our neighbours that we have already met, we know we have all the talents, skills, experiences and creativity we need to get it right. Every single time. On every single issue.

It is the people who have ideas. Let’s hear them. Let’s discuss them, let’s debate them, let’s make them better ideas, and let’s vote on them. And let’s have our Town Council do what we together want them to do (and not the other way around). That is how we flip that flow of power right-side up.

With the announcement of Elon Musk officially becoming the world’s first trillionaire, we can leave you with one last question to consider: If you had a trillion dollars … would you go to work on Monday morning to make it a trillion-and-one dollars?

Elon Musk will show up for work. But — I wouldn’t. I would do something better. And I truly believe all my neighbours would make that same choice.

All these 1% millionaires/billionaires/trillionaires need to make more wealth for themselves. Why? They all show up for work to make even more money. Enough is never enough for them. There is something seriously wrong with these people — and we should not be letting them decide how our communities and society should operate.

I would not even want them as my neighbours. They all put up gates and fences. They all hire security staff. Fences, gates and security guards are not actions I would expect from good neighbours. Good neighbours have no need to be afraid of their own neighbours.

After meeting so many of you, I — more than ever — believe we can do a much better job ourselves. And I think - together - we can flip the flow of power right-side up. We can govern ourselves.

I am convinced of it.

We have identified a full slate of candidates for all five Council positions. A couple of us are hesitant and hoping others will want to join us so we have five fully committed candidates. As such, our doors remain open for others who want to run for Council with us.

Until then, we are not presenting our candidates (there are some election laws and regulations we have to follow which includes not announcing ourselves until we actually file our nomination papers). Our current priority is to keep seeking candidates for our local Town Council. We will keep introducing ourselves to more of our neighbours. Again - every door we knock on, we will continue to keep learning – we will continue to hear what you have to say.

And we keep finding more and more great neighbours that exist among us! We know we can rule ourselves — and do a great job of it! That is getting confirmed by every door we knock on. We have good neighbours here. Many of us are a bit quirky but everyone wants better governance than we have now. A good community with all kinds of skills, experiences, talents, and creativity. And good ideas. Let’s give them the light of day!

If you feel this is something you can embrace, let us know. We would love to have you on the team.

We are organizing meetings every two-weeks between now and election day. Join us. Let’s start by nominating 5 candidates from among ourselves to form our next Town Council.

• Who do you think would be good candidates? Let us know or have them contact us.

• The next meeting will be held on MONDAY JUNE 22 at 7 PM at the Pavillion at the Mallorytown Recreational Park (at the soccer and baseball fields). JOIN US. JOIN YOUR NEIGHBOURS.

• Subscribe to these newsletters. Stay informed. They will be issued every two weeks following each of our meetings. It’s all free, it’s fast and simple to do, and the newsletters will be sent to your email inbox.

• Visit our website. Watch the videos about democracy and what it means to govern ourselves. Understand the power we actually have. The links are posted on our website OURTOWNHALL.ORG

And feel free to leave your comments and suggestions. Your ideas make our ideas better ideas. Democracy is a team game. Democracy is a community game. Let’s get on the playing field of democracy.

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Power to the People!