With the municipal and school board general elections looming in the not-to-distant future, the time is ripe to remind local citizens why we need strong, committed representatives at the city council and school board tables.
These people are our voices.
Of course our local MLA and MP will claim the same job description, but we need not remind them they have to represent the larger masses within certain geographic perimeters. They are also well aware of the fact they are expected to take their marching orders from local councils, committees, and elected boards, not necessarily from their leader’s inner office personnel.
Oftentimes, these leaders would like to think they hold the hammer when it comes down to the last rock in the 10th end, but they don’t always get to call the shots if the community representatives or committee is doing a good job of local representation for local interests.
Our councillors and trustees are continually waging little wars with senior governments in an attempt to win back, at least, some of the tax dollars their residents and businesses send into provincial and national coffers. Sometimes these little wars are fought politely and persistently and sometimes the local combatants need to raise a few hackles, which they shouldn’t mind doing, if they tend to the job at hand.
The worst thing a council or school board could do, would be to allow a provincial or federal body or agency to run roughshod over them.
Local committees, especially elected groups, if they are well represented and educated, will not be ignored or easily dismissed. Their voices will be heard … consistently.
That is why it is so important to have several candidates ready, willing and capable of having their voices (and the voices of their electorate) heard. We need them to make a bid for one of these seats of responsibility.
We especially need strong voices representing us for the next four years, now that we are hearing ominous choruses of transformational changes that could be imposed without any clear definitions being offered as yet.
We may well need strong voices of community conviction at the negotiation table when the details around these upcoming changes begin to trickle down into the cities, towns and rural municipalities. This would not be the time to elect bobblehead “we agree with everything this government wants to do,” candidates.
These are tougher economic times and local electorates may not be as willing to again embrace new or higher fees and taxation structures at any level of governance, not when they are scrambling to make mortgage and truck payments and deciding whether to cut the cable or mobile phone in favour of purchasing food for the family.
What we are suggesting, in other words, is this is not the time to send a happy note to central governments. We may not be so happy with whatever they want to send our way or not send our way.
We are already seeing how transformational changes will be imposed within the health-care community with little or no push back allowed since we agreed to replace democratically elected board members with appointed board members who will, by their nature, be very reluctant to stand up and speak out strongly for the communities they represent, especially if the message needs to be in a negative vein.
If we don’t elect strong school board and municipal council members, a similar scenario could develop a lot sooner than what is expected.
The longer we can retain a voice at the provincial and national tables the better off we’ll be, because the alternative probably wouldn’t look that pretty.
