A good part of my adult life was spent introducing myself to people I didn’t know and hoping they trusted me enough to answer my questions.
That’s the reality of reporters hustling to bring interesting and relevant voices into their stories, often voices of people they just met.
So, I have a great deal of respect for a small army of men and women who are knocking on doors across the province this month as the 2018 municipal election campaign goes into overdrive.
Voting day is Nov. 5.
Cory Thomas, a colleague of mine who was twice elected to city council in Summerside, says campaigning door-to-door is essential.
“You can develop all the social media tactics you want and spend enormous amounts of money on signage, but at the end of the day, people want to discuss their issues, concerns and ideas with candidates. People want to know their local politician.”
He’s right.
Last Saturday, I met a candidate in my Summerside ward at my front door. We talked about ditch in-filling – democracy doesn’t get any more grassroots than this issue – the prospects of a new firehall and the importance of balancing the city’s books.
He seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say, something Thomas says is a huge part of the door-to-door campaign.
“Listen to residents . . . at the end of the day, they are the ones who should be developing your platform for you.”
On the other hand, he said, it’s not a good idea to promise voters “the moon and the stars,” or things that cities and towns have no jurisdiction to deliver. He advised all candidates to read their community’s official plan to ensure they’ll be informed on the campaign trail.
I missed a visit by a second candidate who knocked on our door Thursday evening but from a brochure he left with my wife, I see he also favours a ditch-filling program and moving the city towards being debt-free.
One thing I like about the municipal level of government is that candidates aren’t bound by any political parties, so they don’t have to toe a PC, Liberal, Green or NDP party line. That means they can make their own decisions – with input from voters like my wife and I, of course.
Traditionally, the turnout for municipal elections is 50-55 per cent, well below the mid-80 per cent of Islanders who consistently turn out to vote in federal and provincial elections.
But Elections P.E.I. has come up with some new ideas in an effort to bump that number up Nov. 5. For the first time, voters will be able to cast their ballots at returning offices in Charlottetown, Summerside, Stratford and Cornwall on Oct. 24, 25 and 26 and again on Oct. 30, 31 and Nov. 1. There’s also mail-in ballots and, in another first, there will be a campus vote on location at UPEI and Holland College.
If the candidates who want to represent our interests on municipal councils are willing to invest their evenings and weekends to meet us at our doors, surely, we can take a few minutes on voting day to offer them our support.
It’s an opportunity every eligible voter should take advantage of to ensure the best men and women are elected to run our civic councils.
- Wayne Young is an instructor in the journalism program at Holland College in Charlottetown.
