If you saw our story this week on the finalized list of people seeking the mayoral chair, a seat on council, or a spot as a school board trustee, you’ll see candidates have pretty much come out of the proverbial woodwork to take part.
As it stands, we have seven people running for mayor, and a stunning 78 vying for the 14 council seats.
By comparison, for the 2022 election, a total of 42 people ran for council or for mayor. Fifteen of those ran for the six seats in Chatham. This time around, with Chatham broken up into three wards, and two seats are allocated to each of those wards, there are 17 people running in Ward 7 alone.
You read that right; 17 people fighting for two seats. Think musical chairs on steroids.
We applaud each and every one of the candidates for stepping up to take part in the democratic process. Now, it’s all our jobs to take part.
Vote.
In 2022, with those 42 people running, only 30.56 per cent of the electorate in the municipality bothered to show up at the polls, either in advance or on Election Day.
Dismal.
Surely we can do better than that this time.
In 2018, we had a turnout of 45.44 per cent. Still terrible, but way better than last time. Our best showing since amalgamation was way back in 2000 when 52 per cent of voters cast ballots.
The volume of candidates is a sign of either dissatisfaction in how C-K is managed right now, or a heck of a lot of people just think they can do better.
We hope people aren’t signed up for the two worst reasons: the paycheque (renumeration is nearly $44,000 per annum) or because they are one-issue candidates.
Getting into politics should be a selfless effort. Doing it for the cash is the opposite.
Seeking a seat at the table because you hate one issue, or one decision, is also a poor choice. Bring options, and plenty of them.
Chatham-Kent is about as diverse a municipality as you can have in Ontario, given the rural-urban mix and the number of communities with their own unique issues.
Candidates, please think big.
Voters, just please show up on Election Day, after you’ve taken the time to become informed on what each candidate offers.
