Originally published on Cortes Radio.ca. This radio broadcast was funded by a grant from the Community Radio Fund of Canada and the Government of Canada’s Local Journalism Initiative. 

Recent events suggest that the Regional District system does not always work well in a remote island like Cortes. Some say, it is time to Cortexit. Our Regional Director says we should work within the existing system, it would be very expensive for a community this small to go it alone. She is currently wondering how a community council system would work on Cortes Island. “A minority of very active voices has been very effective at undermining my credibility at the Regional District, but if what I brought to the district was backed by this community council it would be harder to marginalize.” In this morning’s program we go to Cambridge, Vermont, to explore how an even more democratic system of government would work here. For more than two centuries, the local authorities have been carrying out the decisions made at an annual town meeting that everyone in Cambridge can attend.