You will notice in this week’s paper that some of the photos accompanying our stories are a little smaller than normal.
And you will most certainly notice that a good chunk of our news space is dedicated to delivering profiles of municipal election candidates to our readers.
Unlike some of the other area media outlets, we opted to hold off running candidate profiles until the nomination period – which lasted four long months – was over. Profiling someone in early May, then profiling his or her opponent(s) now is unfair to either candidate. It could be argued the early candidate’s information might be all but forgotten a third of a year later, while the candidate who filed their nomination papers late in the process would have a leg up. Alternatively, some voters may have made up their minds after hearing from the early bird.
We sought to deliver the material in as unbiased a manner as possible.
However, with 86 people running for mayor or council, that equates to a lot of real estate in our newspaper. To accommodate, we’re delivering profiles from now until Oct. 15.
We begin this week with the mayoral candidates and those seeking one of two seats in Ward 6, northwest Chatham.
Next week, we’ll profile the Ward 7 candidates; Ward 8 follows Sept. 24; Ward 5 Oct. 1, Wards 1 and 2 Oct. 8; and we’ll end with Wards 3 and 4 on Oct. 15.
We asked the questions that we thought would provide the best information given the space limitation.
Candidates were also asked to try to keep their answers to about 300 words. Some were very concise, others not so much, but we trimmed them to meet our requirements.
Not all candidates had contact information filed with the municipality. You won’t see them in this paper, as we could not reach them. Some failed to meet our requested deadlines in which to provide us answers. Again, they aren’t going to appear.
The municipal election – a process that determines which Canadian politicians will have the most impact in our day-to-day lives – is, in our opinion, of vital importance. Hence the commitment of space and time to sift through all the answers and deliver them to you, our readers.
We urge everyone to read what their candidates have to say and hope this can help you make an informed decision when you vote. And, please, cast your ballot. That’s the crux of democracy.
