The next municipal election is a little more than one year away.
Residents in B.C. municipalities go to the polls Oct. 20, 2018.
The Chief is committed to ramping up our coverage of local issues in the lead up to the election of the mayor and council.
But will most Squamish residents be engaged? If the upcoming election is typical, the answer is likely no.
Voter turnout for municipal elections is notoriously low. In 2014, our last municipal election, just over 47 per cent of eligible Squamish voters cast a ballot, according to the District.
And to get to that resounding cup-half-full figure, a man had to set himself on fire.
Recall that then-candidate Peter Kent, a stunt man by trade, promised to set himself ablaze if the voter turnout improved over the previous election.
Squamish voter turnout was 39 per cent in 2011.
But can democracy work at its best with less than half of eligible voters showing up?
In the U.S. 2016 election, of the approximately 232,000,000 eligible voters, 47 per cent didn’t cast a ballot, according to the United States Elections Project. Would the U.S. have President Donald Trump if more people had voted?
We will never know.
While at the federal and provincial level an argument – though still weak – could be made that our individual Squamish votes are less impactful because MPs and MLAs are removed somewhat from their constituents and must follow their parties’ platforms, those arguments don’t hold any water on a municipal level.
Citizens have access to and can put real pressure on our local leaders, who in Squamish aren’t beholden to party politics.
On a very tangible level, council decisions impact our day-to-day lives so it is worthwhile to tune in to who is deciding what.
The mayor and councillors we elect decide the type of development that goes in next door, whether there’s a focus on building rental housing or not, if our roads are properly paved and plowed, and how protected we are from sea level rise and flood; whether or not there is public art; if our library has a security guard and to some extent, how much property and business tax we pay, and so much more.
They are responsible for land use, whether our pool, fields and ice rink are updated regularly. They determine, in many ways, how we experience where we live and how those outside our boundaries perceive us.
Go to elections.bc.ca for information on registering to vote.
And if someone thinks they can do better at running Squamish, that is great! Consider running. Nomination packages will be available next summer from the Squamish.ca website, but first head down to city hall and ask to talk to District staff who can tell you all that is involved. A year is plenty of time to get organized and rally support.
Whether as a voter or a potential candidate, its time to engage.
