It鈥檚 not too early to start thinking about the Nov. 15 municipal elections. In fact, if you are considering running for office, time is dwindling rapidly. What should people think about before deciding to run for council or school board?
A credible campaign takes hard work and preparation. For this year鈥檚 election, the work should have started months ago with attending meetings, getting to know the issues and measuring your support.
Everyone who is qualified to vote has the right to run, even if it鈥檚 to raise an issue with no hope of winning. But overcrowded fields mean candidates鈥� meetings are difficult and voters have a hard time sorting through platforms and positions. It鈥檚 hard to get noticed above the din 鈥� and it would not be helpful for any cause or platform to be branded as a nuisance candidate.
When there is a slew of candidates, there is also a tendency for voters to support slates, a distinctly unhealthy trend in local elections. We鈥檝e seen the consequences of that in provincial and federal politics, and we鈥檝e seen the destructive divisions on councils when slates lock horns.
We should elect candidates who will do their best, not toe a line. When a person is elected, that person should be accountable to the public, not to a special-interest group. We want elected representatives to govern for all of us, not just a few of us.
Single-issue candidates are a hazard in any election. You might be passionate about a particular issue, but if that one issue is the extent of your knowledge and interest, you won鈥檛 be particularly useful as a public official.
The two huge issues hanging over the capital region are the sewage-treatment plant and amalgamation. Both proponents and opponents have advocated ascertaining where candidates stand on these issues. As important as those topics are, it would be a mistake to elect someone based solely on where they stand on a particular issue.
What happens if, six months down the road, the issue becomes a non-issue? A council or board is then handicapped by a member without depth and knowledge. We need knowledgeable people who are well-rounded and able to deal with a variety of challenges.
Running for office requires more than filling out nomination papers. Potential candidates should ask themselves a few questions.
鈥� Do they have 15 friends willing to contribute $100 each to a campaign fund? Even basic campaigns take money.
鈥� Do they have 10 people who will help them run?
鈥� Do they have 20 hours a week to devote to the effort? It鈥檚 not enough to enter the race and then wait for something to happen.
鈥� Do they really understand all the issues?
鈥� Have they done the basic homework 鈥� attended council meetings to learn about the process, met with community associations, reviewed the Municipal Charter, at least generally? A person who decides to run for office without having attended board or council meetings is like someone trying to write a book without having read books.
Now that the terms are four years long, we don鈥檛 want to elect someone who hasn鈥檛 figured out how much work it is. Byelections are expensive.
So before someone announces, they really should do some serious soul-searching, and ensure that a time on council or school board is right for them.
The more people participate in democracy, the better it works. But there are lots of ways to participate without being a candidate this time around, including volunteering for someone else鈥檚 campaign.
With the election less than three months away, it鈥檚 not too soon for candidates 鈥� and voters 鈥� to become informed and prepared.
