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Encouraging muicipal signs
?We are fortunate here in the Durham riding to have a couple of senior government representatives who are fairly conscientious about maintaining a high visibility at community events. Compared to current MPP John O’Toole, our previous fellow at Queen’s Park, Wayne Arthurs, was virtually invisible. And Bev Oda, despite her rather hectic schedule lately as federal cabinet minister in charge of international cooperation, which took her to Haiti among other places, is committed to making the trip to Uxbridge as often as possible. Whatever one might think of their politics, one must applaud their energy and attitude toward serving one of the farthest-flung ridings in the GTA.
Despite their visibility and accessibility, however, the provincial and federal parliaments can still seem a long way away. So can Regional Council, for that matter, and it’s only in Whitby. As we’ve said many a time in these pages, our local Township government is not only the easiest to watch in action, up close and personal, it also has by far the most impact on our day-to-day lives. It’s the level of government we should care most about. So when a closely-covered municipal election is only participated in by 50% of the electorate, as was the case in 2006, you begin to wonder what exactly it would take to get some people out to the polls.
There are encouraging signs, however. In 2006, there were a total of 26 candidates for the seven seats on Township Council, a high number compared to previous years. No one was acclaimed. There was good attendance at both of the municipal forums sponsored by the Cosmos. And the quality of the candidates was high, producing some excellent, closely-fought races.
It’s still early in May, more than five months before we mail in our ballots to elect the next Uxbridge council. Yet already we have 14 candidates declared, with exciting contests for both mayor and regional councillor. All seats have candidates, and only one has less than two (that being Ward 5, the northern urban ward, and we hear that will be changing very soon). There is a good buzz in the streets already about the election, and that can only bode well for the turnout come October 25.
The Cosmos will be doing a few things to further our readers’ ability to get involved in the election. First is the “Municipal Government 101” course we promised a few weeks ago (see the ad on page 8 or 14), to be held next Wednesday. Although it’s aimed primarily at candidates or potential candidates, we encourage all those interested in the operation of municipal government to attend. We promise you’ll learn a lot.
As the campaign heats up, because we anticipate a large number of candidates, we want to increase your ability to hear what they have to say, so we’ll be having more forums, eight of them altogether. One for each ward (held in the wards), separate ones for mayor and regional councillor, and another separate one for school board candidates. We expect them to be shorter, more intense, and much more informative.
Our coverage within these pages will be more intense, too - you’ll know the issues, and the candidates, very well by the time comes to have your say. Some say the campaign has begun too early. We disagree. The local level of government is far too important not to make ourselves as informed as possible, with candidates working long and hard to get your vote. The next five months will be fascinating indeed.
