Peace River Election 2010: Big changes

I went to bed last night knowing that our incumbent mayor, Iris Callioux, had been defeated by former mayor, Lorne Mann. And woke up to discover that incumbent Wanda Laurin and I had also been defeated.

Democracy works in surprising ways. The results are personally disappointing, of course, but also disappointing from the perspective of having a women's voice on Council. And although there are smart and thoughtful men who have been elected, with only the incoming mayor and incumbent councillor Geoff Milligan with previous municipal experience, the loss of knowledge and experience will be challenging for Council, Town staff, and the many committees and boards that mayor and councillors serve on.

I wish the new mayor and council all the best and will watch with great interest to see in what direction Peace River and the region is taken over the next three years.

Councillors:
North Darling
Rob Lafontaine
Geoff Milligan (incumbent)
Tom Tarpey
Colin Needham
Cole George

Peace River & District Chamber of Commerce-sponsored Election Forum: Oct. 13

We are fortunate to have the Chamber of Commerce sponsoring an election forum tomorrow (October 13) that gives Peace River residents the opportunity to hear from all the mayor and councillor candidates. The event is at the Sawridge Inn & Convention Centre (thanks to the Sawridge for donating the space) and will start right at 7:00 PM (doors open at 6:30).

Candidates draw lots for speaking order. Mayoralty candidates Iris Callioux and Lorne Mann will each have five minutes to present themselves to the audience. Then candidates for councillor (Ayre-Jaschke, Darling, George, Grimmelt, Lafontaine, Laurin, Milligan, Needham and Tarpey) each have three minutes. Following a 15 minute break and a Q&A period, each candidate has time to sum up (3 minutes per candidate for mayor and 1 minute per councillor).

The formal portion is over by 10:00, with time for candidates and audience members to chat afterwards. I hope there will be a big turnout and lots of questions and that help each of us elaborate--three minutes is an awfully short time to capture the essence of who we are, what we stand for, and what we want to accomplish. But it also encourages us concisely capture what we think is most important to get across. Should be an interesting night--please plan to attend if you are a Peace River resident!

Mayor Callioux's website

Check out Mayor Callioux's new website for her platform and background and also for her perspective on the work of the 2007-10 Council.

Peace River's Candidates for the 2010 Election

Former Mayor Lorne Mann is challenging incumbent Iris Callioux. These two candidates faced each other in 2007, with Ms. Callioux defeating incumbent Mann.

There are nine nominees for the six spots on Council. These are, in alphabetical order:

• Leslie Ayre-Jaschke (incumbent)
• North Darling
• Cole George
• Kristjanna Grimmelt
• Robert Lafontaine
• Wanda Laurin (incumbent)
• Geoff Milligan (incumbent)
• Colin Needham
• Tom Tarpey

This is a strong group of candidates, which speaks well for citizen engagement in Peace River. In the best of my worlds, the election on Oct. 18 will see the return of Mayor Callioux, the three incumbent councillors, and three newcomers. When I was elected in 2007, it was reassuring to have the experience of three people who had been on Council for many years as we newbies climbed the steep learning curve of our first year.

We were welcomed and our perspectives heard as relationships and trust were built within Council, with administration, and with our neighbouring municipalities. Mayor, councillors and administration have formed an effective team with a long list of accomplishments in three short years. (More on these accomplishments in future posts.)

Of course, we didn't always agree and there were heated discussions at times. But we were always respectful and maintained the spirit of finding effective ways to address the challenge of balancing the many competing demands on Town resources. I hope this spirit will remain, regardless of the election results.

Unofficial Nomination Results: An election in the Town of Peace River

The unofficial results (nominees have 24 hours to reconsider) have us with two candidates for Mayor and nine for councillor (3 incumbents and 6 newcomers). That means we've got an election, which is great news for the Town!

Next step is to get those voters out for the advanced polls (October 12 & 15) and on October 18.

Watching History

I'm not sure I ever thought I'd live long enough to see an African-American President and First Lady, but it has happened! And with a huge voter turnout--Canadians should look on that with envy.

Collaboration and figuring out how to work together to achieve big goals is so important to me and is how I try to approach municipal public life. Watching the US campaign has given me high hopes that an Obama presidency will approach the huge social and economic problems in the US and around the world from that perspective.

I was also encouraged by John McCain's gracious concession speech and his call for all Americans to work together. We can't expect the extreme partisanship that is characteristic of US politics to disappear overnight, but I anticipate seeing a far different approach to internal and international US relations than we've seen for far too long.

Federal Election: Get Out and Vote!

Polls are open today from 7:30 AM to 7:30 PM so if you didn't vote during the advance poll, be sure to get out today.

Many people will have received a card in the mail sometime ago with their polling station information (mine is the Senior's Drop-in).

The Elections Canada website is very busy this morning, but you can try it.

The local Elections Canada office is at 9509-100 Avenue, Peace River. The phone number is 1-866-497-8892.

Council is Back At Full Strength/Voter Turnout

The election of Geoff Milligan on Friday has brought the Town of Peace River's Council back up to full strength after Jim Hancock resigned in May for a job transfer. Geoff brings a great deal of experience from his previous years on Town Council and former work life and will be a welcome addition. Congratulations, Geoff!

I'd also like to offer thanks to Tom Day and Hayden Gust for running in the by-election--it takes courage to put yourself out there--and to the 408 residents who took time in the busy month of June to cast a ballot.

Not to take away from the candidates in any way, since between-election vacancies on Council are often filled by acclamation, but this is a pretty sad voter turnout--just under 9% by my calculations (see below for explanation of how I came to this number). Where were the other 91% of citizens?

In October, when I was elected to Town Council, it seemed like the mayoralty race and the high number of candidates brought out a lot of voters. But using the same method to calculate that voter turnout, it was only about 30%. Certainly better than for the by-election (it's typical for by-elections to have a smaller turnout) but that's still an astonishing 70% choosing not to have a say in who represents them on Town Council.

The poor performance of voters in the March provincial election has sparked a great deal of discussion and debate that may have spillover at the local level. The Edmonton Journal is currently running a 3-part series called Project Democracy to look at the topic.

The authors of the Sunday article, "Too 'distracted' to vote?", note that "Leaders from municipal councils to the House of Commons worry a troubling trend is emerging across the country, as more people disengage from the democratic process" (p. A3). The article notes that 6 in 10 residents stayed home in March, giving Alberta what appears to be an historic low voter turnout and the dubious distinction of having the lowest in Canada for recent provincial elections (41.4%).

This turnout has sparked Elections Alberta to commission a first-ever post-election survey to gauge public attitudes on voting. I hope that the results and ensuing discussion will lead to greater understanding of why people appear to be so disengaged at all levels of government.

I can't help but wonder what recent immigrants from struggling democracies or countries where there is no vote think about how little our citizens appear to value the gift of living in a democracy.

Compulsory voting is one method that has been proposed to improve turnout. It is used in Australia and other democracies and might be dramatic enough to alert citizens to the importance of the vote. But I do hope there are also other ways to get people engaged, and perhaps we must start at the municipal level, where government is closest to the people.

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Estimating Voter Turnout:

Unfortunately, Statistics Canada doesn't make it easy to figure out how many eligible voters live in the Town of Peace River. One reason is that ages are divided up in 5 year segments, which means that 18 and 19 year olds--potential voters--are included in the 15-19 segment. But, going with the 2006 census numbers, here's how I estimated the voter turnout in Friday's by-election:

Population in 2006: 6315.

Subtract 1840 children aged 0-19 
6315 - 1840 = 4475

Add back in 105 18 year-olds and 105 19 year-olds (assuming 105/year in the 15-19 segment; students who live away are counted on their parents' census)
4475 + 210 = 4685

408 voters divided by 4685 eligible voters and you get an estimated voter turnout of 8.7%.

For the October municipal election, using the total votes cast for the two mayoralty candidates (1425), the estimated turnout was 30.4%, based on 4685 eligible voters.

(If anyone reading this sees an error in my calculations or knows of a better way to do them, please let me know!)

Election Results

What a rookie blogger mistake--in all the excitement of the election on Monday, I forgot to post the results here yesterday!

Iris Callioux defeated incumbent Lorne Mann, bringing a new era to Peace River Town Council as (if I have my history correct) the first woman mayor. Congratulations on an effective and hard-fought campaign!

I'm thrilled to be among the new councillors, who also include Berry Heinen, Jim Hancock and Wanda Laurin. The new Council is fortunate to also have depth of experience with the return of incumbents Don Good and Neil Martin as well as the experience on another council that Jim Hancock brings.

Voters appear to have measured the successes of the former Council and Mayor against what they hope for the future, which includes more openness in how Council conducts its business and attention to issues that go beyond (as well as include) economic development. I think the next three years are going to be exciting and challenging.

Many thanks to those who won't be returning to Council--Lorne Mann, Geoff Milligan, Tom Day, and Gordon Troup. Their commitment to the Town over their past years of service is much appreciated. I hope that once they've had a chance to overcome their disappointment at not being re-elected they will find ways to enjoy having more free time or find exciting new opportunities for their experience and energy.

For the new Mayor and Council, the next weeks and months will mean a huge learning curve, starting on Monday with our first meeting and swearing in. Whew--what have we got ourselves into? Stay tuned!

Blog Action Day: The Environment

Today (Monday, October 15) is Blog Action Day. The website asks bloggers to unite on one issue--the environment. Blog Action Day is about mass participation.

I decided to take a look at a resource I've had for awhile--Community Energy Workbook: A Guide to Building a Sustainable Economy (1995) from the Rocky Mountain Institute (http://www.rmi.org/.

The book provides a blueprint for helping a community to identify ways it can reduce energy consumption while building sustainability into its economy. Although the book seems to be mostly geared towards larger urban areas, I'm sure there are ways we could adapt for a smaller town like Peace River.

The book talks about the characteristics of communities that have led in finding ways to improve their economies through energy planning. These include:

• Widespread awareness of energy alternatives
• Incentives to change
• Community and political support
• Strong local leadership
• Ability to mobilize resources
• An effective organization to carry the effort on, year after year

Could we find ways to develop the characteristics listed above? Perhaps a new Town Council with a commitment to community consultation and mobilization can begin to move us in that direction. And as citizens, we can encourage our local politicians to see energy sustainability as an issue worth working on.