News that the Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce will be abandoning its long-held tradition of hosting candidate nights caused a bit of a flap last week, as it should.
After fielding numerous phone calls and emails on the subject, some candidates and the public are now pleading with anyone or for any group that would consider the task. Much work goes into these types of events so it will be no easy feat, but there is time to put something together which will let the public access candidates and ask the requisite questions to make an informed choice.
The angst about the chamber withdrawal has many facets. First off, hosting a Monday morning coffee with candidates event (on Sept. 12) instead hardly sounds like an event designed for citizen engagement.
Second, formal questions at the event will only be permitted for the three mayoral candidates. We suspect that is a function of time management, recognizing that the mayor is in fact one vote on council. Other candidates will be able to meet with voters in a one-on-one fashion. This will limit dialogue and inhibit the exchange of ideas – two very important elements to informed choice.
Third and perhaps most egregious for correspondents with us, is the event will be a true pay for play. Members of the chamber will pay $20 and non-members will be charged $25 to attend.
We do live in curious times when such a format got past a board of directors.
It is true that in recent years, candidate nights have moved to a less formal format. Questions, often vetted by moderators and volunteers, replaced the heady days of anyone accessing a mic and asking questions of candidates. One could argue that has civilized such events, which could be quite raucous and out of order depending on the venue, but it adds an element of censorship that those in attendance may question.
It brings to mind a barn burner at Rockmosa years ago. This was before questions were sanitized for fear someone might be offended. While it did make for a long night, people got through it, saw who could handle questions and who wilted under pressure. It also made for commitments and covenants to voters – something we see in peril lately.
At any rate one question got the room humming and a few cat calls rang out. We remember a relatively short man shout out at one point – “let the man speak.”
Of course, our headline this week is slightly revised to include the fact that candidates are women as well. Men and women deserve to be heard, particularly with respect to what qualifications they will bring to the table. How they perceive issues, what their stance is on social issues under municipal jurisdiction, and in essence – do they know their stuff. Do they understand the role of municipal council?
Centre Wellington and other townships with races need to encourage candidate nights if local democracy is to thrive.
Gone to the dogs
We like dogs – a lot. With that confession out of the way, we were gob-smacked to watch a news broadcast talking about dog day in Toronto. A total of nine public pools were cordoned off for a dogs-only event. The canines appeared to have an awesome time and one dog trainer suggested such facilities are needed year-round, so dogs can get out and enjoy themselves.
Again, we like dogs, but have we reached the point where taxpayers are now expected to front the bill for any and every request that comes along?
As it currently stands there are housing issues, health-care emergencies, food insecurity problems, under-funded social needs and a cadre of other big-picture items that remain unaddressed. Within that taxpayer funded envelope the working poor, up against it themselves, are now expected to go along with dog-only facilities?
The times they are a-changin’, as old Bob Dylan would say.
