Judging by the past week, the municipal election season is well under way even though you and I won’t vote until next Fall. There are just so many ways for politicians to politic now that it is hard to keep track . But things appear to be heating up if social media posts, news stories, op-eds , letters to the editor etc. are any indication .

Further it appears that in some cases the gloves are coming off and posts etc. are becoming more pointed and negative . My hope is that we start to hear more about what ideas will be brought to the table and less about what people don’t like about the other candidate personal or otherwise. To my mind elections should be about discussion, vision and connection with the community the candidate hopes to represent . Councillor candidates should focus on their constituency which is defined by their ward boundaries . While it is interesting whether you like a particular mayoral candidate or not, in my experience your opinion in this regard has little impact on whether a resident will vote for you as councillor. People by and large are far more focused on their specific community or even at a more granular level their specific neighbourhood. Social media likes are attractive and affirming of your views , but they are not votes nor more importantly they are not necessarily representative of the folks that might vote for you.