Richmond Hill, Markham candidates pledge to interact with voters not only during campaign

14 candidates participated in CIVA’s forum

Yorkregion.com
Oct. 24, 2022
Scarlett Liu

The 2022 Municipal Election Candidates Forum hosted by Canadian Informed Voters Alliance (CIVA) was held in Markham on Oct. 20 to ensure that candidates in the municipal election keep their campaign promises and inform voters.

It has been well established that voter turnout is rather lacklustre in municipal elections. There are multiple causes for this phenomenon, which CIVA would like to explore and attempt to improve.

One of the causes appears to be the lack of interaction on a more personal level between voters and candidates.

“Some of them may take the time to call selected voters either by phone or by visiting their homes during the campaign,” said Derek Wu, founder of CIVA, noting that once the election is over, residents will hardly hear from successful candidates.

The organization, which has only been in existence for a few months, is dedicated to finding ways and means to promote an environment whereby there will be an ongoing interaction between candidates/elected officials and voters, not just during election campaigns.

“It is our sincere hope that this forum will be an introduction to this ideal and concept that voters and candidates/elected officials will work closely on a shared vision (for) how to improve our communities,” reads the press release from the forum.
CIVA claimed the meeting was open to all candidates, but only 14 candidates from Richmond Hill, Markham and Toronto attended, with 11 of them being candidates of Chinese descent.

When asked whether CIVA endorsed only Chinese-Canadian candidates, especially the pro-CCP ones, Wu denied it and indicated that he phoned most of the candidates in York Region, primarily those in Richmond Hill and Markham, but many of their campaign offices did not respond to the call, therefore only a small number of candidates and voter participants attended the meeting.

He stressed the main purpose of this gathering is to increase enthusiasm and voter turnout in municipal elections among the Chinese community with more communication and opportunities to learn about candidates, regardless of their ethnicity.

Official data shows that 38.26% of eligible electors voted during the 2018 municipal election in the City of Markham. By contrast, only 37.1% voted in the 2014 municipal election, but Wu believes that the turnout in the Chinese community is well below the average and his goal is to raise voter turnout to 50 per cent.

The forum ended with an optional pledge reading. The content prepared by CIVA reads as follows:
“We pledge that if elected we shall present a plan to establish a conduit to provide voters with a continuing forum to communicate with the elected officials. We believe it is essential to stay in touch with a broad range of constituents on a regular basis to promote a meaningful exchange of ideas, rather than only during election campaigns.”

List of candidates made attendance:

Jim Jones (Markham Regional Councillor)
Cindy Liang (York Region District School Board Trustee)
Sigmund Lee (Richmond Hill Ward 2 Councillor)
Larry Lau (Markham Ward 2 Councillor)
Yehuda Goldberg (Richmond Hill Ward 2 Councillor)
Weibo Cheng (Richmond Hill Ward 1 Councillor)
Michael Shiu (Richmond Hill Ward 6 Councillor)
Tony Luk (Toronto mayoral candidate)
David West (Richmond Hill mayoral candidate)
Terrence Au (Richmond Hill Regional Councillor)
Godwin Chan (Richmond Hill Regional Councillor)
Carol Chan (Richmond Hill Ward 6 Councillor)
Ritch Lau (Markham Ward 2 Councillor)
Amanda Yeung Collucci (Markham Ward 6 Councillor)