Where are all the experts when it comes to politics and how to run this city?
In the last two years, we had a bunch of people in the community who felt they could make the city better than the current council, yet as of this writing our list of municipal election candidates looks pretty bare.
Prospective councillors have one month from today (Aug. 19) to file paperwork to run for Barrie city council. There are only 23 names for 11 seats.
Really?
While there's still plenty of time to file, I guess I expected way more people to want to be involved. If the comment sections on Facebook and other social media were part of the election process, we’d have to do debates in a stadium. However, stepping up in person seems to make people nervous.
I also figured this would be the year to do it.
Several wards could have new councillors come the fall. Ward 6's Natalie Harris has said she will not seek re-election after one term on council, while longtime Ward 4 Coun. Barry Ward (who was also deputy mayor this past term) is running for mayor. Keenan Aylwin (Ward 2), Jim Harris (Ward 8) and Mike McCann (Ward 10) have not yet filed their paperwork if they plan to run again.
Four of the ward races have one name in them.
Throughout the pandemic, there were people who believed the folks at city hall handled the situation incorrectly and they couldn't wait to vote them out and do it better.
Oh, don’t get me wrong. I have plenty of gripes about how council has handled the last four years, but the pandemic issue isn’t one of them. I have full confidence that if this council could have deferred the pandemic, they would have.
But here we are, just under four months away from the Oct. 24 municipal election and the number of people looking to get involved is, so far, disheartening.
It is an unfortunate situation with recent elections nationwide.
In fact, in 2018 Barrie’s voter turnout was 27,652 electors, or 30 per cent.
It's one thing to not want to put your name into the race, but it's another entirely to not vote at all.
Judging by the last two years and the armchair politicians on social media, this year should see a record turnout at the polls!
We're bound to get the right people in the right seats this time, yeah?
I’m sure everyone who has had a problem with how the municipality is run has been conducting their own research on what the issues are facing the city and how they can be solved. Now is the time to talk about road work, intensification and other prominent issues in the community.
C’mon folks. Get loud. Get involved. Many people could probably just print off their comments from the local chat groups and read those at the debates. You won't even have to leave the caps lock on. Just yell!
Make your voice heard and run for council. Or don’t.
You can still type safely online.
