Waterloo Region Council Election Discussion

[panamaniac]

What are the main issues likely to be in this Regional election?

[timio]

Affordability is likely the key issue. I don't see any other major issues now that the LRT is pretty much complete.

[fakepnijjar]

A few responses:

There are lots of ways to help with the site, and we really need help.

• Publicity. Tell your friends and enemies about the site in person. Spread the word on Facebook and Twitter and other social media. We hope to have some posters soon, and if you are willing to put up posters or leaflets that would be amazing. If you know people who have design skills then we could use them for designing logos and posters and such.
  
• We need some people who will monitor news sites throughout the election, and submit articles that they find. We are gravitating towards news rather than opinion pieces, but there may be room for both. (We are trying to stay as non-partisan as possible.) There is a list of news sites we know about so far at this issue: https://github.com/CivicTechWR/WRvotes/issues/52
  
• We need to track down Twitter feeds and/or campaign websites for the remaining candidates. This will be more of a job come September, I am guessing, but it needs doing.
  
• Some candidates are holding their own events. We need to go through the candidate websites and figure out who is holding events, then get them on our calendar.
  
• We need to find out about upcoming all-candidates meetings across the region. That means getting in contact with community groups (such as neighbourhood associations) and asking them of their plans. Simultaneously we need to tell them that the site exists and ask them to publicize the site to their members.
  

There is more, I am sure. If you want to help the easiest way is to email us (civictechwr.wrvotes@gmail.com) . Attending a CivicTechWR meetup is good too, but that won't happen for two weeks. You can also join the Slack channel and/or participate in Github issues directly. You folks are super-connected to local issues, so you can help a lot.

As to other questions: yes, candidate sites are often boring. I have found that reading someone's Twitter quickly gives you insight into their political positions and priorities. In addition all-candidates meetings are excellent for evaluating candidates.

There are a bunch of issues in the region this election so far. Safe injection sites are getting a lot of play. Affordable housing is a big concern (and this is one of Aissa's platform planks, the other being health care). A lot of people are pushing back against intensification using the pretense of "maintaining neighbourhood character". And yes, the LRT is still an issue. People are grumpy that it is not running, and they are using that as political leverage in the campaign.

[timio]

Saw a Rob Deutschmann sign up on Westmount this morning. I'm pretty sure we're still a few weeks out from when election signs are allowed along the road.

[KevinL]

One solution would be to have municipal parties or blocks.  The most obvious solution would be for candidates to come out of the closet and declare their political affiliation.  I know they all have them and 'party' workers will help with their campaign by knocking on doors, delivering flyers, etc.  The only ones who don't know this are the non-political voters, who often don't vote in municipal elections.  Yet they will vote in the Provincial and Federal election because they know which party and policies they generally support.   As it is, with all candidates saying more or less the same thing, it becomes a political crapshoot with dismal voter turnout.

Do they? Just because a candidate's volunteer team becomes available doesn't mean there's explicit party ties. There are many people whose party support changes from election to election, and is often different provincially from federally. We lack parties at the municipal level for a reason, and I don't know if it's worthwhile changing that.

Blocks, on the other hand, I might see some value in. If a group of candidates espouse affiliation with a set of principles, it may make it easier to cast a vote, yes.

[fakepnijjar]

Saw a Rob Deutschmann sign up on Westmount this morning.  I'm pretty sure we're still a few weeks out from when election signs are allowed along the road.

The region of waterloo site says that a candidate's campaign period starts the day they file their nomination papers: https://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/regio...ocess.aspx

The sign bylaw says that election signs may be posted 45 days before the election (which is not the case -- that would be Sept 9?) or after the writ has been issued: see page 7 here: https://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/resou...dation.pdf .

Has the writ been issued for this municipal election? If so I think signs are allowed?

EDIT: Nope, you're correct. The rule appears to be 45 days before election day. https://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/regio...-Sheet.pdf

EDIT 2: But is that only for regional roads? Do the cities have different rules? Ugh. So confusing.

[danbrotherston]

What are the main issues likely to be in this Regional election?

Active transportation and road safety is a big issue for many people...

Not sure how it fits in more broadly...but at least several candidates have it has big parts of their platform.

[jgsz]

One solution would be to have municipal parties or blocks.  The most obvious solution would be for candidates to come out of the closet and declare their political affiliation.  I know they all have them and 'party' workers will help with their campaign by knocking on doors, delivering flyers, etc.  The only ones who don't know this are the non-political voters, who often don't vote in municipal elections.  Yet they will vote in the Provincial and Federal election because they know which party and policies they generally support.   As it is, with all candidates saying more or less the same thing, it becomes a political crapshoot with dismal voter turnout.

Do they? Just because a candidate's volunteer team becomes available doesn't mean there's explicit party ties. There are many people whose party support changes from election to election, and is often different provincially from federally. We lack parties at the municipal level for a reason, and I don't know if it's worthwhile changing that.

Blocks, on the other hand, I might see some value in. If a group of candidates espouse affiliation with a set of principles, it may make it easier to cast a vote, yes.

In the last election a number of candidates were endorsed by some citizens group (can't remember the name).  I know in ward 10 (now my ward) Sarah Marsh was endorsed by them and James Howe wasn't.  Marsh won.  The Labour Council usually endorses candidates and they often do well.   For lack of anything more formal these endorsements help.  It gives voters an idea of where candidates are coming from.

[panamaniac]

Affordability is likely the key issue.  I don't see any other major issues now that the LRT is pretty much complete.

As in housing affordability?

[fakepnijjar]

In the last election a number of candidates were endorsed by some citizens group (can't remember the name).  I know in ward 10 (now my ward) Sarah Marsh was endorsed by them and James Howe wasn't.  Marsh won.  The Labour Council usually endorses candidates and they often do well.   For lack of anything more formal these endorsements help.  It gives voters an idea of where candidates are coming from.

http://betterchoiceswr.ca ?

[ijmorlan]

Affordability is likely the key issue.  I don't see any other major issues now that the LRT is pretty much complete.

Is phase two of ION in jeopardy depending on who is elected?

I don’t expect the current Ontario government to fund it regardless, so I assume Phase 2 is not happening soon. Having said that, Regional Council could proceed or not with all the environmental assessment and design steps that precede construction, so our election is still relevant. It’s hard to say because the chair is one vote — if the rest of Council votes to proceed over Aissa’s objections, he can’t force it to stop. I’m actually a bit unclear what he could do — de jure I think the Regional Chair doesn’t actually have much power. Normally of course the Chair has a lot of influence, but if the Chair is a complete dolt the rest of Council might just start ignoring the chair. This is a bit like what happened during Rob Ford’s mayoralty when Council voted to remove some of his powers.

[danbrotherston]

Is phase two of ION in jeopardy depending on who is elected?

I don’t expect the current Ontario government to fund it regardless, so I assume Phase 2 is not happening soon. Having said that, Regional Council could proceed or not with all the environmental assessment and design steps that precede construction, so our election is still relevant. It’s hard to say because the chair is one vote — if the rest of Council votes to proceed over Aissa’s objections, he can’t force it to stop. I’m actually a bit unclear what he could do — de jure I think the Regional Chair doesn’t actually have much power. Normally of course the Chair has a lot of influence, but if the Chair is a complete dolt the rest of Council might just start ignoring the chair. This is a bit like what happened during Rob Ford’s mayoralty when Council voted to remove some of his powers.

Doesn't the chair have some control over the agenda?  I'm not entirely clear on how that part of our municipal government works.

In any case, even if the chair has no more power than anyone else (which isn't true for sure, since they have at a minimum symbolic power), it would be one more vote against.

And yes, we are unlikely to get funding from the province in the current climate, but that could last as short as 4 years right? If we aren't ready when a more...useful...government gets elected, we won't be ready for it.  And that's leaving aside the federal government entirely.

[timio]

It surprised me when the Federal Conservatives jumped right in with funding for phase 1 the day after the initial council vote. If they can be supportive of transit, there may be hope that the current batch of ... [insert descriptor here that is not negative] ... would jump in to show they're friendly to local wishes... But, in the other hand, I have very low expectations for any beneficial progress in the next 4 years.

[jgsz]

In the last election a number of candidates were endorsed by some citizens group (can't remember the name).  I know in ward 10 (now my ward) Sarah Marsh was endorsed by them and James Howe wasn't.  Marsh won.  The Labour Council usually endorses candidates and they often do well.   For lack of anything more formal these endorsements help.  It gives voters an idea of where candidates are coming from.

http://betterchoiceswr.ca ?

Yes, that’s the organization I was thinking about.  Thanks.

[tomh009]

http://betterchoiceswr.ca ?

Yes, that’s the organization I was thinking about.  Thanks.

They appear to not be active this time around.