So Saturday is election day.
Or is that, rejection day?
Hopefully, some of you got out to the advance polls.
Which is great.
But what I really want to know is how you’ve been able to separate the claptrap from the clarity of the campaign.
Or, is that even possible?
I’ve tried and I believe I’ve made some sense of what the candidates are saying, although that, apparently, is my job.
As I sit here in front of my screen, the little email and Twitter bombs keep exploding to the right of this page. The campaign teams have been relentless, as have the #vanpoli types on Twitter.
It’s an overwhelming amount of policy promises/information/rhetoric/gossip/crap to sort through. It’s made me think of an analogy someone told me about how we no longer receive our information in a trickle from a garden hose but instead through a never-ending blast from a fire hose.
So, how to decide then who to vote for?
Start by finding the smartest candidates.
Many will be on the streets over the next few days to get in that last wave, that last handshake. You can always send them an email, or give them a call at their campaign headquarters, too.
You’ll want to focus on those candidates familiar with how city council, school board or park board works. Ask them the total cost of the operating budgets. Ask them what the budgets fund. Ask them if they’ve ever appeared before council, school board or park board.
They better be articulate when giving you an answer. Challenge them when they use the following words in a sentence: sustainable, engagement, stakeholders, transparency, accountable and affordable.
Find out why they’re running for a seat. Is it an extension of their involvement in a neighbourhood issue? Why are they running with a party? Why are they running as an independent? Where are they getting their cash to run a campaign?
Check out their policies on their websites, or read their literature dropped at your doorstep. Alarm bells should go off if their information is short on specifics and heavy in political Pablum.
It’s too late to attend an all-candidates’ meeting but some careful Internet sleuthing should uncover videos, including three one-hour chats the Courier conducted with Mayor Gregor Robertson, the NPA’s Kirk LaPointe and COPE’s Meena Wong.
Heck, while I’m pumping the Courier’s tires, why not go to our web page and scroll through our Vancouvervotes2014 section, where you’ll find numerous stories on the campaign.
After getting your Courier fix, go take a bike, a car or a bus around the city. Walk, if you can and don’t bring your phone. Too distracting. Just take it all in and think what it is you like or hate, or needs improving in this city.
Are you stepping around homeless people? Are you laughing out loud at the prices of homes and rents? Is all this traffic driving you nuts? Would you like another tower in your neighbourhood? That pothole doing a number on your car? Those rats getting bigger than cats?
Then return home, match your concerns with what the candidates have said and decide whether they’re going to do anything to address what irks you. Or, maybe you’re fine with how things are.
Either way, for the love of democracy please vote.
Here’s another reason to cast a ballot: Toronto had a 60 per cent voter turnout in its October civic election. Yes, I know some guys named Ford probably had something to do with that. But wouldn’t it be great to knock that city back a few steps and show the rest of Canada that people here actually care about local politics?
Up to you, Vancouver.
twitter.com/Howellings
