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Who (and how) will you choose?

Few city council candidates attended the Amnesty International presentation last Tuesday.

Few city council candidates attended the Amnesty International presentation last Tuesday. I saw only Surinderpal Rathor and Peter Bowman there.

The Prosperity Mine proposal is bound to be a hot issue in the upcoming months. Surely it would be helpful for council members to know how the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People might play a part in the outcome.

Reaching out to the First Nations communities can’t be such a high priority for council after all.

It was a different story at the Remembrance Day get-together at the legion. Most of the candidates managed to get themselves there. Some went to honour the day, some to campaign. It happens every three years.

People who take their civic politics seriously are talking about strategies for electing city councillors.

Do you go for broke and elect one of the teams? Or will you just vote for the candidates you like? And what if you prefer candidate A for mayor, but don’t want a dictatorship. Do you vote for a mixed bag of councillors? Are there any independents? Do you go for experience or new faces? Choices, choices.

The thing is, choose carefully. A lot of things can be done, good, bad, or indifferent, in three years.

As readers may have guessed, I’m not keen on slates, teams, or political parties for that matter. When it comes down to it, no one group has all the answers to everything. Group think can be narrow. There is merit in having independent thinkers who ask questions and don’t go along with a plan simply because the leader or staff wants them to.

Mind you there are extremes. Once, some years ago, the councillors were so annoyed with the mayor (Tom Mason) they got together and passed a motion banning him from  writing letters or making public comments without their permission.

Diana French is a freelance columnist for the Tribune. She is a former Tribune editor, retired teacher, historian, and book author.