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Feature Article October 25

Feature Article October 25, 2003

LAND O' LAKES NewsWeb Home

Election LessonsWe had a little meeting of our volunteer Editorial Advisory Committee in late August to decide how we were going to deal with the municipal elections this fall. We decided that each candidate should have a chance to say something in the paper, and that there should be an All-Candidates meting in each district that we serve. It all sounded pretty straightforward.

We were just contemplating getting the operation underway on September 2 when a fax came in from Barry Gordon saying how thrilled he was that the provincial election campaign was underway. (That was probably the most thrilling part of the election for Barry Gordon, but that is another story).

If All-Candidates meetings and candidate profiles were needed for the municipal elections, then I figured we should do the same for the provincial election.

So, in September the News organized two provincial AllCandidates meetings and profiled five candidates. In October, we organized 13 more All-Candidates meetings and profiled more than 50 municipal politicians. In addition, we had to cover the campaigns as well.

It has all been rather exhausting, but I have leaned a few things about municipal politics in the greater region.

I have learned that, while the OMYA Corporation is hated by many people for the way it has dealt with the public over water taking, it is popular with the taxation office in Tay Valley Township, providing 7% of the taxes collected. You can pave a lot of roads with that money, and Tay Valley has a lot of paved roads.

I have learned about the bag tag system in Addington Highlands which encourages recycling not only by accepting recyclables without charge, but actually awards recycling by giving a free garbage bag tag for every bag of recycling. Those who recycle 50% of their garbage dont have to pay at the dump.

I have also learned that people have a wide variety of issues that concern them, including the large amount of municipal taxes they pay, but that the state of the roads is the most persistent, almost obsessive, concern of many people. Further, the minutiae of road work; grading, gravel sifting techniques and timing, tar and chip, cold patch, culvert location, etc. has always been lost on me, but a startling number of people seem to be well versed in them.

I have also observed a lot of nervous people preparing to step forward and present themselves for public scrutiny, both incumbents preparing to face the wrath of disappointed ratepayers, and newcomers fearing questions about areas of council responsibility they as yet know nothing about.

Interviewing candidates has also revealed a variety of interests, from the aforementioned roads, to waste management, increasing taxation, economic development and the protection of our lakes.

With the publication of the last or our candidate profiles this week, an article on the mayoralty race in Central Frontenac, and a short piece on mail-in voting, we have completed our coverage of the fall elections.

While, as I said earlier, it has been exhausting, we feel we have served the political process in some small way.

We did spend a fair bit of extra money on the process as well, both on the meetings and in putting together and printing the coverage. We will be coming to the public soon with our voluntary subscription campaign, and are hoping to recoup our losses thanks to the generosity of our readers.

With the participation of the Government of Canada