It's time for candidates to step forward in Vaughan

Vaughan Citizen
January 15, 2013

ISSUE: Municipal election is off to slow start in Vaughan

Now that at least three local councillors have filed their nomination papers for re-election, as reported in today’s Citizen, the campaign for this fall’s municipal election is officially on.

There are rumblings around city hall that some incumbent councillors are waiting until the spring to announce their intentions to run in the Oct. 27 municipal election. For others, their hats may be tossed into the ring as early as next week.

Which reminds us that a real campaign is what our community needs - complete with a genuine choice among a range of strong candidates, with fresh ideas, for the mayoralty and for the local and regional councillor positions.

Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua is widely expected to run again, but he has yet to officially declare his intentions. In fact, no one to date has stepped forward to run for the city’s top post.

Mr. Bevilacqua may be the best person to lead Vaughan after the next election, or he may not.

Who knows at this stage? But what we do know, for sure, is that he can’t possibly be the only person in the whole community with the necessary skills and qualifications to serve as mayor, and his ideas about the best way to build the city’s future can’t possibly be the only ones worth considering.

For example, you can hear more about Mr. Bevilacqua’s vision for Vaughan at the annual mayor’s luncheon Feb. 26, hosted by the Vaughan Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Bevilacqua will share his insights on how stable governance and strategic planning, coupled with growth and innovation have helped transform Vaughan.

It all sounds business-as-usual.

That’s one approach, but we need other civic-minded individuals with thoughtful, forward-thinking ideas to step forward as mayoral candidates so that we can have a real debate about alternative approaches and priorities.

One subject about which we need a vigorous debate is transportation, traffic and congestion.

As one of our readers thoughtfully pointed out recently, the underlying problem in Vaughan is that there is no clear and effective strategy to alleviate traffic congestion.

Traffic congestion is costing the GTA billions of dollars in lost productivity. Our commute times are now longer than those in famously traffic-snarled Los Angeles.

Candidates will need to brainstorm ways of working with other levels of government - the province has already sparked this conversation and we know it’s going to cost billions - and neighbouring municipalities to win the war.

As well, our city is sorely lacking in anything that even remotely resembles an arts, culture and entertainment scene.

We hear, time and time again, from local musicians, for example, that there are scant few venues in Vaughan that cater to live music. The same story can be heard from visual artists.

Is there more we could do to encourage growth of the arts in Vaughan? What are the innovative ideas we should be pursuing to expand and upgrade the facilities and services that our community can offer visitors?

These are just a few of the issues that should be addressed between now and the election in the fall. We’ll have more to say about them, and others, in the months ahead.

What’s important right now is that people who are passionate about this city step forward and offer themselves as candidates.

BOTTOM LINE: Vaughan deserves a real debate on issues that matter most.