FLIP THE POWER

Daniel Celovsky

August 17, 2026

I feel the spirit. I feel it in me and I feel it in my neighbours.

As a preamble, I will make one declarative statement: I can assure you that this effort is 100% about democracy. It is about the democracy we are told we have but have none of. It is about the democracy we deserve and actually claiming it.

Election Day here is on October 26th. This is the same day as local elections are held in all 444 local municipalities across the Province of Ontario.

It is time to campaign. We have just under 10-weeks to go.

Keep in mind that this is just the first step. And — regardless of the outcome — we will have more work to do come October 27th and beyond. But no matter what happens on October 26th we will have lit the path forward. The next steps will come to us. I am positive about that.

It is a revolution that we are undertaking. But we are doing it peacefully and what we are doing is 100% legal. We are simply exerting our power that democracy gives us. That is our choice to make and now is the time to make it.

Slamming the door on this broken and corrupt system we have today is only the first task.

Freedom and peace is what we want. Equity and fairness is what we want. Justice is what we want. Thriving vibrant communities are what we want to build. That is what this is all about. That is our destination.

I have no hesitation in saying it — this is about a revolution. Some may take that as a “scary” word. But we have dug ourselves into a serious hole and we need to embrace revolutionary-level change to dig ourselves out of it.

We have to pivot our system of governance and leadership. It has failed us and we can no longer give it the authority to represent us. Everything it offers is a deterioration in the quality of our lives. Everything it offers is the disappearance of the futures for our younger generations. If we do not pivot, we are guaranteed that things will get worse. We all know it.

Face it — we have no trust left to give our governments, our institutions, our media, nor our corporations. They have lost our trust. As such, they have lost the authority to govern us. These are choices that they made. As a result, they are on their way out. And it is time for us to make the right choices. It is time to place ourselves in charge.

Below is the text of the hand-out flyer I am passing around to everyone in our Township. During the next 10-weeks it is my hope to reach everyone in-person — there are about 1,300 doors to knock on here.

The first page summarizes the reason behind my candidacy and the second page outlines my platform.

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I registered as a candidate in this fall’s election for our local Town Council.

This is not exactly what I expected to be doing at this stage of my life. It is not even my own future that concerns me at this point, but it is the future of my kids and the future of their kids that concern me. As such, I feel it to be necessary.

This decision came down to a fundamental basic calculation. I am 68-years old. I have seen our political landscape deteriorate through incompetence or corruption (or some combination of the two). The result? Everything has deteriorated. I cannot place any trust or confidence in our institutions, our government, our corporations, nor our media. I also know the majority of us see it the same way.

This has not happened in one event. It happened over time — which indicates a clear trendline. And that trendline will continue on its trajectory UNLESS a serious pivot in its direction is made. Without a serious pivot, things will deteriorate further and that will happen at an even faster pace. That is the trend — which we can all clearly see.

The corporations keep winning. The bankers keep winning. The entitled billionaire class keeps winning. And every one of their victories is coming from losses to ourselves. How does this loss manifest? Look around … every single structural aspect of our lives has gotten worse. And we all know it.

As I write this, I have met several hundred of you across our Township over the past couple of months. The vast majority of you (I would estimate it to be well over 7 out of 10 of you) have the same concern. We are already in majority agreement which is absolutely in our favour. And we should organize ourselves to take advantage of it to fix it.

You have given me the motivation to run for Town Council. I am not alone in my rage about this failed system of governance we have. In fact, I am merely one among a majority.

I am here to do what I can to deliver that necessary pivot — to bend the trajectory in the right direction. To actually build the communities and society we know is possible. Together is how we do it.

I ask for your vote on October 26th.

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My election platform is very simple and absolutely basic. It is to engage us as a community to govern ourselves.

How we do it is also pretty basic. We have to maximize the transparency of our Town Hall and our Town Council to engage our neighbours in the decision-making process. Everything our Town Council does should be a reflection of what we – together as neighbours in our community – decide. We build our community together.

If elected, I will make this platform the priority. Town Council will not make decisions behind closed doors anymore. If I am elected, I will be sitting in the Council Meetings. I will see to it that transparency and accountability become mandatory.

I will even take it further. I will be advocating for the use of Internet technology to build and operate a simple online platform to open the flow of ideas to all our neighbours. The technology is there.

What it does is allow any one of us to present an idea to us all. It allows every one of us to add to the idea, to improve on the idea, to debate the idea, to discuss the idea, and to ultimately vote on the idea. The process is called “democracy” and the technology opens the doors to actually deliver it.

I do not believe that politicians have ideas on how to build the community we want. That belief is defined by the issue of incompetence and corruption. And we have had more than enough of that approach!

• Between 2012 and 2022 our property taxes have risen an average of 1.3% a year. In the last 4-years, it has been 4.8%, 4.2%, 4.3% and 4.5%

• We got an unnecessary Town Hall extension in 2022 for $900,000

• Council has been considering a new $3-million fire hall (and our annual budget is just under $3-million)

• Most of us never see or hear from our Town Council. Most of us don’t even know their names!!!!

I believe the people – our neighbours – have ideas. Good ones and even great ones.

I ask for your vote on October 26th. It is time to govern ourselves.

Dan Celovsky ⇿ (613) 803-7631 ⇿ dancelovsky@gmail.com ⇿ the99.substack.com

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My mission is basic — it is to flip the flow of power rightside-up from the broken and corrupt system we have now to the one we all know we want and deserve.

Right now, power flows from the federal government, to our provincial (territorial, state) governments, to our local town halls and - lastly - to each of us at the bottom rung of that ladder. THAT IS UPSIDE DOWN.

In democracy it is us who hold the power. All of it. It is time to FLIP IT RIGHTSIDE UP. In democracy — it is us the people who are at the top of the flow of power.

Democracy is our tool and our weapon to deliver this flip. I - once again - present this definition of what democracy is. Pay particular attention to the first point. The people rule and the people govern themselves. That is the bottom-line of my campaign.

FLIP IT RIGHT-SIDE UP. EMBRACE DEMOCRACY.

We can do this.

We can reject what we have now (whatever you call it) and replace it with democracy.

It is 100% worth the effort. I want to be free. I want my neighbours to be free. I want peace surrounding all of us. I want my kids and grandkids to have a future. I want us making our own decisions – as we were promised.

I have already talked with many of my neighbours. I know they have good ideas and even great ideas. We the people do!!! Let’s hear them, discuss them, debate them and even improve on them. And then we – together – will make all the right calls. And I am convinced that we will get every single one of them right every single time.

Face it, politicians don’t have ideas — the people do. So let’s hear them!!!

We have all the spirit we need in us. Let’s ignite our spirit and let that spirit soar!!!

I will see you on the campaign trail.

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