It’s been just over a week since this year’s crop of municipal candidates came forward for the upcoming election, and it appears that for many people, choices will have to be made.
This week, the County of St. Paul is hosting its municipal election forum, and next week, the town will host its own forum. As a county resident myself, I am very interested to hear what the candidates have to say on a number of issues. Seeing three people step forward for the position of reeve is interesting, and the results on Oct. 16 will no doubt be just as interesting.
In my case, I am happy that I have a choice to make - actually, I have three choices to make. Along with choosing who I think would be best suited for the job as reeve, there’s also an election taking place in Division 3, and two names have been put forward in Subdivision D for school board trustees.
And in each case, I feel as though I have some very capable candidates vying for the positions, which maybe makes my choices a little harder, and not quite as obvious as past elections.
Working for a newspaper offers a bit of a unique angle when voting in elections – whether that be municipal, provincial or federal. The job allows me to be educated on my choices without having to put in much extra effort, since it’s my job to be informed anyways. I also get to know politicians a bit more personally, sitting in on meetings regularly over the years, I get to see how they deal with specific issues, and how they treat fellow politicians.
But, for the majority of the population, election time requires a bit of extra effort, a bit more observation of what’s going on in the community, and some consideration of how our candidates handle themselves in public spaces – which now often includes digital spaces.
For town residents, there are plenty of choices for candidates, and plenty of past issues to consider. Regardless of which side of the fence you fall on for any given issue, some thought will have to be done before heading to the polls.
While I may not physically live in the Town of St. Paul, the town election is just as important for me, since I do spend the majority of my days working and playing within the town’s boundaries.
Clearly, I want to encourage each and every eligible voter to take the time to attend upcoming forums, read about the issues, and learn who their candidates are in order to make an informed choice. But, in the end, the most important piece of the puzzle is to actually head to the polls on Oct. 16, and vote.
