A Comment by Doug Draper, Niagara At Large
I’ll bet by now that many of you know more than you need to know about this fall’s mayoralty race in Toronto, following the sad news that Mayor Rob Ford has been forced to bow out of that race while he battles cancer.
Just one of many places in Niagara, Ontario where the municipal election signs are now out. Now it is up to you to get involved in a vote for our region’s future.
What those of us in Niagara, Ontario need to know is that we are also facing municipal elections this fall that involve placing more than 100 local municipal and regional councillors in place for the next four years across this region.
These municipal races, in Niagara’s 12 local municipalities and in terms of who will sit on our regional council, may be more important than ever given the challenges Niagara now faces.
This Niagara region has lost many of thousands of good-paying manufacturing jobs due to free trade and the global economy, and federal statistics have reported time and time again in recent years that Niagara has also suffered some of the highest unemployment rates in Ontario and the entire country.
We have also experienced an exodus of young people to other regions due to the lack of jobs here and other factors, including this region’s failure to get its act together on building a regional transit system that is accessible and affordable for people, and makes it attractive for young people of talent to stay or move here.
The narrow-minded parochial politics of far too many of our current municipal politicians at the local municipal and regional level may be blocking the kind of progressive thinking Niagara, Ontario needs to move forward.
So get engaged in these municipal elections and ask all candidates the hard questions around what they would bring to the table in terms of making Niagara a more attractive region to live and work in.
And get out there and vote in these municipal elections this October – especially you younger people who, according to past statistics, vote in very low percentages at the municipal elections. It is your future. These municipal elections are an important opportunity for you to get engaged in it.
(NOW IT IS YOUR TURN. Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.)
Niagara At Large 
I am no younger person, but always vote, often holding my nose. Like so many older folk.
Just for the information of St. Catharines residents, no election signs are allowed on public (municipal) property at all. The Sign bylaw addresses this, and there are bylaw officers to call to clean up the illegal signs. At one time that was true of Thorold, so unless Thorold has changed its sign bylaw (and my bet is the City has not), no election signs should be on boulevards, public or regional roadways, but only on private property. The picture of signs shown here appears to ignore this bylaw.
I know I am hectoring. It comes with my age and concern for visual blight. To have everyone’s signs grouped en masse on a roadway is meaningless.
I agree with Doug. Choose the candidates carefully, and know what their platform is, if they have any. Also, for incumbents, it is easy to check their records. As well, plump your votes. You don’t have to vote for a given number, just one in each category will do.
Hectoring, hectoring, I know.
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Not only should you get involved by voting, you should also get to know the parties they represent (To be exact what their mandate is) We also need to know what qualifies the individuals, who are running, to lead us into a new future. Not by just what they have done in the past but what they are doing NOW to develop themselves into the Leaders we need. How could anyone say they are qualified to be a LEADER if they are not themselves continually learning about how the world and the economy is running now?
One thing to be very, very cautious of is those candidates who state they will work towards bringing manufacturing jobs back to the region. It’s not going to happen and those who think they will will miss out on many, many other opportunities and have a dim future. The Industrial age is gone and we are currently in the Information age and those candidates who can think with information age ideals will be the ones who will be able to lead us into a bright new future.
Remember, your children s future and their children s future is on the line now. So, yes get involved, however choose very wisely.
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Here here, Doug!
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If any of the regional candidates want anything less than a fully integrated, robust regional transit system and a poverty reduction plan, they will not be supported by myself and most of the people I interact with … so if regional candidates (and some local ones) are reading this, contact me to tell me what your position is on these issues. I will no longer accept the status quo.
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Just a comment to Jerry Robbins: your point is very well taken about being very cautious when selecting candidates and their promises. However, Municipal and Regional politics is supposed to be non-partisan, although we all know otherwise. Candidates are not supposed to ‘represent a party’ but we’d be foolish to think they don’t have an affiliation. In one city in Niagara which shall go nameless, a candidate for Mayor is funded by a local Riding association, and it is placing candidates in all wards. Even the city’s MP is behind him,. Guess which city that would be?
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