A few nights back, my wife and I went to a candidates’ meeting for the looming Vancouver municipal elections. In our neighborhood that means only one thing: A large crowd with an average age close to70 and one of the increasingly rare occasions where I still feel young and mentally on top of things.
It was hosted by the Dunbar Residents’ Association at a local church hall, and was followed by coffee or tea and home baked cookies with the candidates (we didn’t stay.) Standing room only when we arrived, we leaned against a side wall for nearly 3 hours.
First came the warm up entertainment, the candidates for Vancouver Council. At least half of the 30 or 40 people who soap-boxed for our votes turned up late –not a good omen for their future career in council chambers. Most of the rest had trouble fitting their stump pitch into the allotted minute.
After the warm up, seven of the twenty(!) mayoral candidates took center stage, seated (lucky bastards) on bar stools. What followed was a pretty flaccid debate, if debate is the right word. The odd bout of mild geriatric heckling was met with outraged shushing as the candidates, and we the audience, waited nervously for each probing question submitted by members of the Grey Horde.
Q. Should we have garbage pick-ups every week? A. Well we have big rats and it’s probably a good idea if we want to save the planet.
Q. What do you think about bike lanes: keep them or remove them? A. Let’s study them for a bit and think about it. But they might be good idea if we want to cut traffic and save the planet.
The ballot paper for the elections is a thing of wonder with 158 candidates to choose from. Informed voting will require hours of preparation and research and I’m grateful to my wife for taking up the challenge. It’s easy to filter out Rollergirl and the guy that looks like Bald Hitler but after that, some work is needed.
My buddy Gary calls the election a failure of the democratic process and I can see his point. It’s everything we want from an election, open and fair, but there’s simply too much choice for the average Joe. I’m guessing the first 3-4 names on the randomized ballot will probably garner more lazy votes than they merit. And that’s not really what we want from the democratic process is it?
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