Running for council is one of the best ways to impact what happens in a community.
While the work of provincial and federal leaders is often abstract and remote, what councillors do impacts what is built across the street, whether that street is paved and if the walk or ride to school and work is safe.
Council decides if there is a new playground or off-leash dog park. They decide if there can be a rainbow crosswalk and which non-profits get a break on fees and how much tax comes out of residents wallets, and so much more.
No other level of government is so immediately and intimately impactful.
For someone who has the experience, skills, and interest, local political leadership is pretty cool and heady stuff.
And yet, to steal one of my father’s favourite terms, I would rather have my butt cheeks rubbed raw with a brick than run for council in Squamish.
Squamish councillors get paid about $31,000 a year — not big bucks for the work, responsibility and flack one has to take to hold office.
The mayor makes about $70,000 a year to work pretty much 24/7.
This would all be tolerable if it weren’t for the level of discourse in this town.
Imagine you get hired to do a job — note, it is a contract for four years, so your long-term future is uncertain — and every waking minute people accuse you of not doing the job you were hired to do and tell you how you could so easily do it better. This happens no matter what decision you make, what stand you take, how hard you work, how much you engage and consult with these people.
As an elected official in Squamish, you open your mouth, and someone will say something negative and likely mean about you.
Even that might be tolerable if it weren’t for the outright misinformation spread and the name-calling. In the newsroom, we have heard rumours so ridiculous they would be funny, were they not such horrible things to say about people who are — when it comes right down to it — our neighbours.
Online is the worst. It is like a giant elementary school playground where name-calling is rampant and groups gang up on council members, tagging them so they can’t miss the hurtful posts.
To be clear, it is totally fair to disagree with the decisions council makes, to challenge the philosophy and the process behind a council. That is being an engaged citizen. Debate is awesome. That is how things change for the better and how a community evolves.
And that can be done with respect, but so often it isn’t in Squamish.
So residents of Squamish, as we head into election season, engage, be critical, be thoughtful — but also be civil and fair. Show the same level of respect you would expect for yourself at a job interview or work.
For those still brave enough to run, the nomination period opens Tuesday, Sept. 4.
The official campaign period begins Sept. 22.
Election day is Saturday, Oct. 20.
