Civic Pride
Today is the first official day that one can declare themselves a candidate in the Mayoral and Councilman election in my city of Winnipeg.
This has been a great year so far for our city mostly because of the success of the Winnipeg Jets. Our playoff success has made us believe that we can succeed and we celebrated together through some amazing street parties, with minimal incidents.
I have a friend who will be lining up in a few short hours to declare himself a candidate. I am so excited for his journey. He has already learned so much and I know he will continue to grow and learn with the experience.
I am saddened that I only know one candidate. Of course, I want my friend to win by a landslide and I can't even vote for him as I don't live in his Ward, however, civic elections are notoriously poorly contested and voter turnout is also not high. Maybe it will be different this year as people are feeling more pride with the Jets.
History tells us that it is likely not the case. Far too often people tend to vote against something rather than for it.
My friend will be embarking on a journey that will cost him considerable time and money. Not many people are interested in making that kind of commitment.
It is a little sad that more people don't take an interest in civic politics, or politics in general. Unfortunately, it is easy to understand. Even local leaders seem to be on-call 24/7 and have incredible scrutiny as we seem to take pleasure in people's failings rather than their successes. Politics is also not an isolated job. If a member of a family is involved in politics, it turns out their whole family is subject to scrutiny. Very unfair to the children.
All politicians claim to take the high road but once mud in thrown in their direction, it seems to be thrown back and it is just a matter of time before something sticks.
In the end, most decisions at City Hall, or whatever level of government there is, are recommendations of bureaucrats. They tend to be the real power brokers in government.
It is no wonder we are so apathetic.
Yesterday, however, gave me some hope for politics and the future. Doug Ford and his cabinet was sworn in at Queen's Park in Toronto. In his speech, he seemed truly humbled and legitimately wanted to serve. He made his rival for the Conservative Leadership race, Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier. That is a classy move on his part since she was actually the best candidate. His other rival, Caroline Mulroney is now Attorney General of the Province of Ontario. Whatever we think of Doug Ford, he has united a base but seems to have checked his ego at the door for his Ford Nation.
I wish my friend the very best. I wish I had 10 friends running for positions. We all pay taxes. Don't we owe it to ourselves to become more involved?
This has been a great year so far for our city mostly because of the success of the Winnipeg Jets. Our playoff success has made us believe that we can succeed and we celebrated together through some amazing street parties, with minimal incidents.
I have a friend who will be lining up in a few short hours to declare himself a candidate. I am so excited for his journey. He has already learned so much and I know he will continue to grow and learn with the experience.
I am saddened that I only know one candidate. Of course, I want my friend to win by a landslide and I can't even vote for him as I don't live in his Ward, however, civic elections are notoriously poorly contested and voter turnout is also not high. Maybe it will be different this year as people are feeling more pride with the Jets.
History tells us that it is likely not the case. Far too often people tend to vote against something rather than for it.
My friend will be embarking on a journey that will cost him considerable time and money. Not many people are interested in making that kind of commitment.
It is a little sad that more people don't take an interest in civic politics, or politics in general. Unfortunately, it is easy to understand. Even local leaders seem to be on-call 24/7 and have incredible scrutiny as we seem to take pleasure in people's failings rather than their successes. Politics is also not an isolated job. If a member of a family is involved in politics, it turns out their whole family is subject to scrutiny. Very unfair to the children.
All politicians claim to take the high road but once mud in thrown in their direction, it seems to be thrown back and it is just a matter of time before something sticks.
In the end, most decisions at City Hall, or whatever level of government there is, are recommendations of bureaucrats. They tend to be the real power brokers in government.
It is no wonder we are so apathetic.
Yesterday, however, gave me some hope for politics and the future. Doug Ford and his cabinet was sworn in at Queen's Park in Toronto. In his speech, he seemed truly humbled and legitimately wanted to serve. He made his rival for the Conservative Leadership race, Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier. That is a classy move on his part since she was actually the best candidate. His other rival, Caroline Mulroney is now Attorney General of the Province of Ontario. Whatever we think of Doug Ford, he has united a base but seems to have checked his ego at the door for his Ford Nation.
I wish my friend the very best. I wish I had 10 friends running for positions. We all pay taxes. Don't we owe it to ourselves to become more involved?
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