This week marks the sixth and final week of our election profiles for candidates who are running in the Oct. 26 election.
We hope we were able to give voters a snapshot of information about the candidates running in their respective wards, and for mayor.
You may have noticed not every candidate was profiled. That is due to three reasons. First off, two never provided contact information to the municipality when they registered, so we had no easy way to get in touch with them.
Several other candidates never replied to our repeated requests to answer our questions. At minimum, every candidate received two requests – and most three – from us seeking their answers.
And then there were at least two candidates who, because of one question, told us they decided not to submit any answers.
The question? Are you a fan of Donald Trump? (Yes or no)
A political candidate refusing to answer questions because they received one they didn’t like, to us, is quite telling. Councillors will face hard questions over the next four years, and have to make difficult decisions. They may not like the questions, or the options, but that doesn’t mean they can just bury their head in the sand or go to their room in a tantrum and avoid the issues.
On the topic of that Donald Trump question, as we have stated before, we included that simple question because of the ongoing trade war that he has brought upon our country, the number of times he’s said he’d like to make Canada the 51st state. Supporting him is to not support our country, in our eyes.
Some say they admire his focus on his actions to benefit his own country. What actions? Going to war with Iran and sending oil, gas and diesel prices soaring? That helps no one’s economy.
We asked one simple question; one that is still discussed in social media circles.
A final thought: We at The Voice will never tell you who to vote for. We don’t endorse candidates. We try to provide our readers with enough information for them to make their own informed choices.
And regardless of whom you support, we urge you to vote. Municipal governments have the biggest impacts on our day-to-day lives in terms. Yet turnout on Election Day is traditionally far weaker than for federal and provincial elections.
