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Editorial
Competition enriches democracy
Finally, we have some
competition in our councillor pool in the Township of North Dundas.
It was looking pretty sad there for a while. At first, only two
candidates had declared their intentions to compete in the Mon.,
Oct. 25 municipal election: Al Armstrong, a current councillor,
and Doug Shirreffs, a newbie.
Finally, John Thompson threw his proverbial hat into the ring,
with the aim to reclaim his seat as councillor.
Still, that meant three people had volunteered to fill three
positions. A council by acclamation (in other words, without
election) is not a desirable thing.
Thankfully, the most recent nominee -- Wray Holmes -- filed shortly
before press time. (His name wasn't listed on the Township of
North Dundas website when we put the Winchester Press to
bed this week, but municipal staff confirmed that Holmes has,
indeed, entered the race.) Holmes has ensured a real election
will take place this October. We hope to interview him for the
next edition on that matter, and others.
Unfortunately, in terms of participation, North Dundas is still
lagging behind its neighbour to the south. Six people have filed
there. Three will lose -- and that will doubtlessly be an unpleasant
experience for them -- but that's how democracy works. The bigger
the pool of candidates, the stronger the final team of five council
members -- theoretically, anyway.
Alas, testosterone appears to be dominating the ballot. Where
are the ladies? In North Dundas, we have Estella Rose running
again for deputy mayor; in South Dundas, it's Evonne Delegarde,
a present councillor, and Shirley Belanger. We hate to sound
like a broken record, having previously run an editorial urging
more women to run. (At this point, we should also acknowledge
that three people have filed for Osgoode - Ward 20 in the City
of Ottawa, and they're all men, too.) But the gender imbalance
needs to be acknowledged.
There's only about a week and a half left until Fri., Sept. 10,
the last day to enter the race. Surely, more candidates can sign
up -- preferably in the north, and/or preferably female, although
not necessarily so.
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