During the next few months, we will be exposed, some will say overly, to the sights and sounds that surround an election.
As I write this, there are a total of 14 candidates for the Mayors position and approximately 90 registered candidates for City Council. Between now and September 10, which is the last day to either register for, alter your registration, or withdraw from the municipal election I suspect you will find a number of changes in those numbers occurring. In all honesty, just by viewing various candidates’ websites, or conversely, their lack of a site you can quickly draw some conclusions about the seriousness and viability of their candidacy. Several candidates are running on an agenda style platform where their key issues are directed at certain specific special interests, or interest groups. Others present ideas which cover the spectrum from dubious to one that have a high degree of merit.
The municipal election and indeed virtually any election will comprise two groups of people. The incumbents are people with a history in public politics, usually in the position they currently are seeking to be re elected for, while others may move up and or down the hierarchy from Councillor to Mayor or from Federal/Provincial politics to Municipal. They are the ones you see quoted in the paper, hear on radio and see on TV. The non incumbents are the rest of us, the ones who fight to get an op-ed piece in the paper, are thankful when asked by a local radio station to comment on an issue and who face the daunting battle of convincing you, the voter, that we offer something better than the current person in the office which we are seeking.
Between now and the date you vote, it is your right and privilege to ask any of the candidates any legitimate question you may have. Incumbent candidates should be running on both their past record and what they propose for the future. The non incumbents are striving to show you that they offer a better choice. I trust that those of you who are interested in the political process, who have concerns about how the city is run will take the time to see what each candidate has to offer and why before you cast your vote.
There is a lot of discussion about holding tax increases to a fixed amount in the upcoming timeframe and the failure of the last elected council to achieve a similar goal. The previous council was not in favour of doing a line by line budget review which could have identified some potential savings. I support such an analysis on all future budgets. Council seems to be continuously chastised for project cost over runs but fix priced contracts do not seem to have been awarded. A number of 21st century Alternate service delivery methods are available for implementation and cost savings yet nothing appears to have been done in that area. Google and Microsoft both offer packages which have proven records and cost savings in the Municipal government Information Technology environment. City Hall should not be run as a billion dollar profit driven business but should use billion dollar business practices.
