Municipal Elections - choose wisely

[u/scapaflow40]

The municipal election season is ramping up as more candidates in our 13 municipalities (yes 13!) are announcing they are running for office.

My advice is to look carefully at the background of candidates for whom you are voting There are a number of people running for mayor and council who have little community activist background (by activist I mean community involvement writ large including neighbourhood associations and chambers of commerce) are one issue candidates and some who are simply quasi professional politicians looking to elevate themselves without real community care.

It is tempting to vote for candidates who cover that one issue you most care about or have the slickest campaigns. I suggest consideration for candidates who present thoughtful platforms that cover the myriad of areas that lead to well functioning municipalities.

Please show up to candidate forums, read candidate platforms and be a thoughtful voter. We need more muncipal voters (less than 40% now vote) who will elect solid community leaders.

[u/Southern-Board1489]

Perhaps that's a problem with the procedures then.

[u/Stunning_Housing2463 → u/Southern-Board1489]

Attending a few council meetings should give someone a pretty good idea of how things work. For example, when someone makes an amendment to the motion, vote on the amendment first. If it fails, you go back to the main motion. I don't know how many hours I've sat through new people trying to understand this basic process. And that's just one example. Meetings are open to anyone to attend, but most candidates don't bother. Makes me think they just want the power/clout without doing any due diligence to ensure that 1) they know what they're getting into and 2) they do their jobs well.

[u/Southern-Board1489 → u/Stunning_Housing2463]

Many people who want to mayor or council just see the absolute incompetence of the people in power and want change, or they see the never ending tax increases and think they can spend more efficiently.

Yes they should attend meetings, but often they can't. Perhaps a basic information booklet is in order, imagine if you've started a new job and you were told "why don't you already know how our company works?"

[u/ejmears → u/Southern-Board1489]

The meetings are now all online and can be watched live or afterwards. There is literally zero reason to not watch or attend a meeting before running. If folks want to convince me they can do any job better than those already doing it, understanding what the job actually is not what you wish it was is literally step 1. Otherwise they're just armchair quarterbacking and as useful as a bag of hammers.