By Stephen Vance, Editor
They’ve already been knocking on doors, hammering in signs, stepping up on Soap Boxes, and next week, they will be participating in public meetings and debates. Election season is in full swing, and in just two weeks, the 10 day voting period begins, so the candidates in this year’s municipal election want you to know their views and positions – but beware of the “promises” candidates can sometimes make.
If a candidate tells you that they will cut municipal staff, it is less than truthful. The same applies to a candidate who claims that they will cut your taxes, or slash spending, or fix your particular road.
For most candidates there is no intent to deceive, but rather a distorted view of what can actually be accomplished by a candidate once elected.
Meaford’s council you see is made up of seven members – five Councillors, a Deputy Mayor, and a Mayor. And while the title of Mayor might seem more impressive than that of a lowly councillor, they each arrive at the council table with exactly the same powers and authority, and they each arrive with one vote – their own.
So when a candidate is promising to cut staff or to lower taxes, that might be their own desire, and that desire might be supported by others on council, but the candidate making a “promise” is really saying nothing other than that they want to cut staff or lower taxes, and with any luck, they will find three other members of council to support their position. Not exactly a guarantee.
Even the Mayor with the fancy chain of office, and some additional duties including chairing council meetings, and maintaining a willingness to be dunked in tanks of water at public events, and to dress like a Scarecrow once or twice each year, even the Mayor has but one vote.
What can a candidate promise? Well, they can promise that they will fight for a specific issue, or collection of issues. They can promise to vote against this, or for that, and they can promise to work hard, respond to email, and to represent Meaford residents to the best of their abilities.
But they can’t promise to build a swimming pool, or to shutter Meaford Hall, or to pave the sidewalks in your neighbourhood in gold.
Here is an interesting promise that was made by nearly every elected candidate in the last municipal election that they kept, and have been vilified for by many.
In 2010, after a devastating couple years, accumulated deficits of some $3 million, long term debt on the rise, and absolutely zero dollars in the bank, all of the candidates we voters elected promised to “stay the course” and to continue with the much maligned five-year plan that would hopefully right the ship, though all conceded that it might hurt like Hell.
This council not only kept that promise, but when the opportunity presented itself, this council ended that five-year plan an entire year early, bringing an end to four years of five percent increases on the overall property tax bills, which in reality averaged about a 10 percent increase on the municipal portion of the tax bill in each of those years.
Be clear on the distinction. In 2010, the promise by those elected wasn’t that they would slash debt and spending, it was that they would continue with the five-year plan that would increase taxes significantly over the course of five years.
That promise was kept, and it was a promise kept that was no doubt the cause for many a grey hair with this current council.
If they are promising you the world, you know they aren’t a legitimate candidate. Don’t let candidates promise you anything other than that they will learn the job, they will work hard, and they will support this group of policies or ideas, but not that group of policies and ideas.
A promise of anything more is an indication that the candidate either doesn’t understand the job and the associated powers and responsibilities, or they do understand, and they are simply being dishonest.
