Each of the three mayoral candidates has a vision of what they want Fort St. John to be, in the future, under their leadership. I've been reading through their web pages, looking for their visions.
Let's start with the newbie, the political virgin, mayoral candidate Mike Murray (www.mikemurray.ca) According to his rather lengthy, auto-biographical essay, he's been a resident of Fort St. John since 1969, and worked in a variety of capacities at different long-time local companies. If you're looking for a long-term resident to lead the city, my guess is, he would be it. His vision of Fort St. John, which I found at the bottom of the issues page, is a bit disjointed. He wants to restore trust in local government, encourage citizen involvement to create a city to be proud of, and create an environment in which people want to come to Fort St. John, and stay. Succinct, so far. But then he ends his vision with a comment about a young person who wants a go-cart track in town. Maybe it's the latent editor in me, but he should've incorporated that vision - increased youth involvement - a bit earlier in his vision statement. To me, it looks like an after-thought, and if I were a new, young voter, I might not be encouraged by the sense that the needs of young people in the community are tacked on the end as an after-thought.
However, neither of the other two mayoral candidates has mentioned the young people of our city at all, on their websites.
Councillor Don Irwin, who has served on council for 6 years now, outlined his mayoral platform on his website also (www.irwinformayor.ca ). Councillor Irwin appears to be a man of few words, by reading his website this weekend, I have learned more about him than I knew in the previous two elections, including the fact the concept of a complete sentence is foreign to whoever compiled his website. However, he, like Mike Murray, is committed to open government. Councillor Irwin is also dedicated to being a mayor of integrity and trust, one who will work with the RCMP to reduce crime and increase community safety, all while promoting the City in order to bring new businesses and industry here. He too, wishes to encourage citizens to become involved in the business of the city, through town hall meetings and social media.
The third candidate, and first woman in my memory to run for mayor of Fort St. John, is Councillor Lori Ackerman (www.loriackerman.ca). Like Councillor Irwin, she has served on council for the past 6 years. While her website details her thoughts and proposed actions on the many, and varied issues affecting the residents of Fort St. John, I've had some trouble finding her vision for the city. Essentially, it seems she wants to see Fort St. John recognized for its' contribution to the province, and to become sustainable economically, socially and environmentally.
Of the three candidates for mayor of Fort St. John, Councillor Ackerman seems to have thought about the most issues affecting voters in the community, and has written down her opinions regarding how these issues can be addressed in the future. Mike Murray, also discusses a number of issues on his website, including Site C, downtown development, municipal boundary, citizen involvement and the Regional District. Councillor Irwin, has not posted his thoughts on any of the issues affecting voters in Fort St. John. I assume he has opinions, which he really should put on his website. How can one vote for a guy, if we don't know where he stands on the issues affecting our community?
I've been waiting patiently for the reporters at Energeticcity.ca to produce the profiles that were apparently coming, on the various candidates, both for mayor and council. But as yet, there's not a whole bunch of info. All the information I have discussed here, I gleaned from the candidates' websites alone. I assume there's something in the local newspapers, but I stopped reading those, when the quality of the writing (in my opinion) plunged into the toilet and remained there. I mean really, what's the point of buying something, that you cannot read, without being compelled to attack it with a red pen? But that is a rant for another day.
In the meantime, I look forward to the profiles Energeticcity.ca is putting together, to learn more about the people who have put themselves out there, looking to represent our city, and lead us into the future.
May the best candidates win, on November 19th!
(Note: this blog is open to comments. Just please, keep it civil, keep it clean or I won't post it! Thanks for reading!)
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