One of my firmly held beliefs is that every election requires a full compliment of serious candidates. No safe seats, no foregone conclusions. Even if I like the incumbents, even if I go ahead and vote for them, I do not want them to have an easy task. Nobody should ever feel their job is safe going into a vote. That’s how democracy is supposed to work.
As we fast approach the next election in a rapid block of them, that for the Mayor and city council of Yorkton, we have a city that’s being given a lot of choice. This one is not a foregone conclusion, and unlike last time it’s actually a hotly contested race. While current Mayor Bob Maloney had an opponent last time around, he was not a serious one. Maloney ran effectively unopposed on his first run, his share of the vote was over ninety per cent. This time around, he’s not unopposed, and has three opponents. Andrew Probe, Calvin Tokarchuk and Chris Wyatt are all on the ballot. Two new faces, one that’s familiar – Wyatt is a former mayor and is on council – and a race that looks a lot tighter than the one four years ago. It’s four serious candidates for the mayor’s chair, which to my mind is great. What is democracy without choice? I think it’s great for the city that we have more people who want to lead it even as they know it’s going to be a challenging term – road construction is a big part of the next four years, and it’s expensive and annoying to residents.
The race for council, meanwhile, is massive. There are twenty four people running for a seat, a wide range of people representing a wide range of point of views and demographics. It’s not entirely clear why the council run is so big, but there are some things that are a bit exciting about it. One, the ballot is relatively young, something which is a good sign for the future of the city. This isn’t meant as a dig against the current council, but an observation that any political campaign tends to trend older. That we have people who are closer to my own age running and getting engaged in municipal politics is a good sign. Only a quarter of the candidates are going to get a seat this time around, but I hope that the people who don’t get on council remain engaged and are not discouraged, because they’re still an important part of the city’s landscape.
To my mind the fact that the entire current council is running for something – though we will definitely see at least one person leave – is a great thing as well. They are standing by what they’ve done for the past four years, so it doesn’t feel as though anyone is trying to cut and run or is ashamed of the direction the city took. If you disagree with what the city has done for the past four years, you’ve got plenty of options to go with, but if you’re happy, you don’t have to do anything too risky. If you’re somewhere in between, satisfied with some people but thinking there are a couple others that need to be replaced, you’ve got more than a few options to pick. Every election is a judgement of how people have done their job, and in this case we have an opportunity to pick whoever we want.
Even with 24 names, there are some gaps. There should be more women on there, a mere three – Randy Goulden, Shelly Ross and Donna Brothwell – are among the names listed. It is strange that in what has to be one of the biggest ballots in the city’s history we have so few women, and I would argue that having more women on council would better represent the city of Yorkton as a whole. Of course, you can’t just will women onto the ballot, you have to find women willing to run, and I hope more do so in the future.
It can be argued that this ballot is a bit too big, it’s difficult to get everyone’s message out when there are so many people with messages on the list. But this is how municipal elections work, and everyone who wants to run gets a chance. A ton of people have ideas that they think will improve the city, twenty four of them think they can do it through city council, four by being mayor. It’s a good sign that the city is getting engaged in its future and that so many people want a say. If they don’t have the chance through council, and 18 will not, I hope they keep working for the public.
We’ve got a heathy mix of people on the ballot, and now we are at the next step. We have a large group of people willing to put their names forward and go on the ballot to take the risk of running for council. Now we as voters have to do our job. We have to be the ones to pick the people we feel will do the best job for us, and to fill out our ballots accordingly, and we all have to turn up and actually take the opportunity to guide the city’s direction. This ballot is a large one, with many worthy names on it, but the voters have to be just as active in having a say in where this city is going. A massive ballot might mean a lot of people want to guide the city’s direction, but everyone else has a part to play in this election as well.
