Election nominations off to a slow start

January 7, 2014
Vaughan Weekly (opinion)

Nominations for the 2014 municipal election have been open since Thursday and so far only two candidates have entered the race.

As of this past Tuesday, only two municipal election candidates were officially registered in the City of Vaughan, one for local and regional councillor and the other for school board trustee. I know it’s early and nominations opened a few days ago, but I was surprised by that. I thought a few of the candidates would have wanted to get their nominations in first thing and start campaigning as soon as possible. I don’t think it makes a big difference in the long run. In the grand scheme of things nobody is keeping tabs on when a candidate registered. And I don’t think the lack of nominations says anything about civic engagement in Vaughan either.

Maybe people are just happy with the way things are. The term has been pretty quiet compared to the previous term, free of major scandals and the seemingly never-ending controversy that plagued the previous council.

On the other hand, maybe people are just taking their time deciding whether or not they want to throw their hat into the ring. The weather and driving conditions haven’t been the greatest over the last few days, maybe that’s preventing people from getting to City Hall to register.

I have a feeling this year’s election will not be as exciting as the 2010 municipal election in Vaughan – that was a pretty hot race and would be hard to beat.  I know it’s too early to tell but I don’t think there will be as much change in council chambers as there was after the last municipal election. I’m sure there will be a few surprises along the way but I don’t think it’ll change too much. I could be wrong. There’s still a lot of time for people to come forward. By this time next month, Vaughan could be inundated with municipal election candidates.

The election is over 10 months away but I can’t help but wonder how it will unfold.

I wonder how much change there will be to Vaughan  municipal council after the election. The current council has been in place for almost four years now. I’m curious to see if the people of Vaughan will support their incumbents or demand change and a new direction by voting for newcomers and fresh faces. There’s been a lot of talk in the City about implementing term limits for municipal councillors. The argument is that democracy needs to be reinvigorated every few years and that new blood equals new ideas, but that’s not always the case. The argument could also be made that the councillors which have been around for a long time have the experience, are well versed in the issues and are well-known to the residents. It will be interesting to see what the electorate decides.

I’m  looking forward to seeing who the contenders will be, which councillors will run for reelection and which individuals will step up in an effort to bring change to the City. What will they bring to the table? What will their platforms be? And how will the constituents vote?

I guess we’ll just have to wait a little longer to see how this one pans out.