# Event Details - **Event Name**: Boosting Citizen Power in the Haliburton Highlands - **Event Start and End Date**: Wed, 25 Feb, 2026 at 07:00 pm – Wed, 25 Feb, 2026 at 09:00 pm - **Event Description**: This is a free presentation! The Telling Our Stories Speakers Series, in cooperation with the Haliburton Highlands Healthy Democracy Project and with the support of Places for People, has planned a “pop-up” presentation in advance of this year’s Municipal Election. Dave Meslin author of Teardown: Rebuilding Democracy from The Ground Up, will be our guest speaker. 2026 is an election year for Haliburton County and we'll have the opportunity to elect our municipal councils in Minden Hills, Algonquin Highlands, Dysart et al and Highlands East. Local elections present an incredible opportunity for local residents to make their voices heard about important issues such as housing, conservation, health services, economic development, road safety, tax spending and more. Sadly, the vast majority of citizens don’t tend to participate. Municipal voter turnout is often below 30% and the 2022 elections in Haliburton even saw some positions “acclaimed” - which means there was no election at all. Dave Meslin has spent the last 25 years researching and experimenting with ways to boost civic participation, especially at the local municipal level. Through stories, Dave will remind us why it’s important to get involved: Not just to vote, but to get engaged earlier as a volunteer or even as a candidate! Dave’s ideas and proposals will help us build a culture of engagement in 2026, across the County. Bio Dave Meslin is a passionate political disruptor and has spent the last 25 years as a political biologist, exploring the strange and mysterious worlds of protest movements, party politics and non-profit organizations. Wearing a suit and tie one day and shouting through a megaphone the next, Dave has worked as an executive assistant at both Toronto city hall and Queen’s Park, he’s painted do-it-yourself bike lanes on the street, organized hundreds of volunteers, worked as federal lobbyist, helped draft provincial legislation, been tear-gassed in three countries, buried his car and got thrown in jail. Not in that order. Dave’s best-selling book, Teardown: Rebuilding Democracy from the Ground Up is designed as a roadmap for change and a cure for cynicism. The book recently was adapted into a six-part TVO docuseries called UnRigged, hosted by Dave himself. His TED talk about apathy has more than 2 million views and his 90-second video clip from the 2015 Canadian election coverage, using colourful stacks of Lego bricks to explain how our voting system fails us, has over 2.5 million views on Facebook alone. A community organizer, trainer and political entrepreneur, Dave has left a trail of campaigns and organizations in his path, including the Toronto Public Space Committee, Unlock Democracy Canada, Cycle Toronto, the Hopeville Kite Festival, the Grey Highlands Municipal League and the Toronto Atlas of Neighbourhood Groups and Organizations (TANGO). Dave is also a co-founder of the award-winning Spacing magazine. Dave’s work shows that politics and civic engagement can be fun, colourful and constructive. His work inspires us to invert the traditional pyramid of hierarchy by creating meaningful opportunities for ordinary voices to be amplified. His thesis is simple: We’re stronger and smarter when we’re all involved. By replacing cynicism with a culture of participation, we can re-imagine our role in the world and the possibilities of the future. - **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/haliburton/boosting-citizen-power-in-the-haliburton-highlands/200029624229233 - **Event Categories**: business, festivals, health-wellness, art, literary-art, trips-adventures, parties, entertainment, pop-ups - **Interested Audience**: - total_interested_count: 15 ## Ticket Details - **Ticket URL**: https://tellingourstories.company.site/products/BOOSTING-CITIZEN-POWER-IN-THE-HALIBURTON-HIGHLANDS-Wednesday-February-25-2026-7-00-pm-HHOA-Fish-Hatchery-p807661017?utm_source=AllEvents.in&utm_medium=event-discovery-platform&utm_campaign=haliburton-events ## Event venue details - **city**: Haliburton - **state**: ON - **country**: Canada - **location**: HHOA Haliburton Fish Hatchery - **lat**: 45.019745785718 - **long**: -78.536582285715 - **full address**: HHOA Haliburton Fish Hatchery, Hhoa Haliburton Fish Hatchery, 6712 Gelert Rd, Dysart, Dudley, Harcourt and Others, ON K0M 1S0, Canada, Haliburton ## Event Organizer details - **affiliate_id**: 2 - **organizer**: Telling our Stories Speaker Series (https://allevents.in/org/telling-our-stories-speaker-series/23350704) ## Event gallery - **Alt text**: banner - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events9/banners/483632d60042851a8389ad6964bf908e70356a07df5e55a9e8a4372b802252c4-rimg-w1200-h800-dc060503-gmir?v=1771041119 - **Alt text**: thumbnail - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events9/banners/c837eb462435dc8e8e938ffc712e95033a6f5b11ee7d5ac43d648f7a70e17fe5-rimg-w300-h300-dc1b1e2b-gmir?v=1771041120 ## FAQs - **Q**: When is the event happening? - **A:** Wed, 25 Feb, 2026 at 07:00 pm - **Q**: Where is the event happening? - **A:** HHOA Haliburton Fish Hatchery, Hhoa Haliburton Fish Hatchery, 6712 Gelert Rd, Dysart, Dudley, Harcourt and Others, ON K0M 1S0, Canada, Haliburton - **Q**: Who is organizing the event? - **A:** Telling our Stories Speaker Series - **Q**: What type of event is this? - **A:** business, festivals, health-wellness, art, literary-art, trips-adventures, parties, entertainment, pop-ups - **Q**: Where can I find ticket details about Boosting Citizen Power in the Haliburton Highlands ? - **A:** You can find ticket details about this event on AllEvents. ## Structured Data (JSON-LD) ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Event", "name": "Boosting Citizen Power in the Haliburton Highlands", "image": "https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events9/banners/483632d60042851a8389ad6964bf908e70356a07df5e55a9e8a4372b802252c4-rimg-w1200-h800-dc060503-gmir?v=1771041119", "startDate": "2026-02-25", "endDate": "2026-02-25", "url": "https://allevents.in/haliburton/boosting-citizen-power-in-the-haliburton-highlands/200029624229233", "location": { "@type": "Place", "name": "HHOA Haliburton Fish Hatchery", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "Hhoa Haliburton Fish Hatchery, 6712 Gelert Rd, Dysart, Dudley, Harcourt and Others, ON K0M 1S0, Canada", "addressLocality": "Haliburton", "addressRegion": "ON", "addressCountry": "CA" }, "geo": { "@type": "GeoCoordinates", "latitude": "45.019745785718", "longitude": "-78.536582285715" } }, "eventAttendanceMode": "https://schema.org/OfflineEventAttendanceMode", "description": "This is a free presentation! \n\nThe Telling Our Stories Speakers Series, in cooperation with the Haliburton Highlands Healthy Democracy Project and with the support of Places for People, has planned a “pop-up” presentation in advance of this year’s Municipal Election. 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