Archie Wants to Know

Archie wants to know . I also want to know and I suspect many others do as well. There are some baffling numbers on the elections website . As of this morning there are 5 wards with only one candidate registered. There are 5 wards with zero candidates registered. There are 8 incumbent Councillors who have not formally registered as candidates despite most Councillors indicating publicly in January that they would be running again.

What does all this mean ? Let’s break it down. If you look at the lack of candidates in the race it could mean a number of things . Firstly, that we will likely get a new Council that looks much like the old Council. This in itself is not unheard of but rarely does this occur because of acclimations . In fact rarely do acclimations occur. To my mind acclimations are not an indicator of citizen satisfaction or engagement but rather of malaise. In other words, folks are thinking it doesn’t really matter who sits in the Council seat because nothing is going to change . So why bother running and/or voting. This is not healthy for the City and its future. If people are thinking of running they need to register soon and preferably now. Thank you all for your public service.

As for the 8 incumbents or faux candidates, why aren’t more people concerned about their behaviour? Before I go further on this topic let me preface it by saying they are not breaking election rules related to office budgets, City business or constituent communications because they are not actual candidates as of yet. However there has been a lot of attention placed on the current Mayor for carrying on the business of his elected job and not registering as a candidate as of now.

It seems to me if you think it is unacceptable for one elected official/potential candidate to to operate in this way then it follows that it should be unacceptable for all elected officials/potential candidates to operate in this way . I don’t take a position on the actions of these elected officials, indeed as I have said I don’t believe any of them are breaking any rules, but rather I question what appears to be a double standard expressed by those commenting on the current Mayor’s actions.

Just some food for thought on a Wednesday morning. Thanks for reading. For those wondering , Archie is my Springer Spaniel and a deep thinker when it comes to city politics.