Last Friday I might have updated the municipalities ever-growing list of electoral candidates, forty-five times, maybe more. By the end of the day, the list was so long I knew that there was unlikely to be a mad rush to get nomination forms in, but I headed up to the town hall anyway, to watch Buff Allen pay his water bill - and the municipality’s Chief Administrative Officer Kathy Lalonde read out the list of five mayoral candidates and fourteen candidates for the position of councillor.
My first impression of the list was this: this election is WAY more interesting than the last one. In 2011, we had two candidates for mayor, one representing “environmentalists” the other representing “evil developers.” Three years on, and with a much wider field of candidates (at least mayoral candidates) to choose from, it seems there are still people clinging to this dichotomy. These are people who you will hear bemoaning “vote-splitting.”
Really?
Is the choice that clear?
It is not. If it was I think the candidate list would be half as long.
While every single candidate has ties and supporters, not to mention pet-issues and hobby horses, each one answers, ultimately, to his or her self.
When the election is over and the seven people who get the most votes find themselves together at a table for hours on end, they’ll have to find a way to work together. Sure, they’ll have to challenge each other and hold each other to account, but they will have to find a way to agree, too. They will make decisions that the people who supported them in the election will not always like, and they will surprise themselves by changing course.
This is healthy, this is good.
They are united, as we are, by the love of this place, and also by the challenges of living here.
Before this race gets underway, I’ve got to believe that this is the underlying reason why they are stepping up to the plate. I’ve got to believe that whoever is elected will use her (or his) own big brain to make the best decisions possible for all of us.
Most of all, though, I’m hoping the next council will be more fun than the last. I have to sit through a lot of meetings with them. Time will tell.
