By Mike Archer. I got to the all-candidates meeting at Bradner Hall half-an-hour late Wednesday night, arriving at 7 pm. I tiptoed over to an available chair in the back row of the hall and tried to disturb the proceedings as little as possible.
It looked like a good, old-fashioned campaign meeting and I looked around the room to get my bearings, noticed a few familiar faces and settled in to gauge the mood of the audience.
Then it hit me. The incumbents were all sitting behind a long table up on a raised dais at the front of the room.
For a moment I thought it was a council meeting rolled into an all candidates meeting. Or maybe I had misunderstood and it was a public hearing.
I looked at the handout I had picked up when I signed in and it stated clearly that this was an all candidates meeting.
Now I’ve complained before that the big mayoralty and candidate debates at City Hall, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, the Real Estate Board and the Indo-Canadian Business Community are, by their very nature, slanted in favour of incumbent politicians.
First of all; those putting on the meeting have a pro-developer, pro-business, and pro-incumbent bias which is reinforced by the fact that, through the process of submitting questions for approval, the audience never gets to hear the questions which were edited out by the organizers.
Then there’s the fact that those asking the questions are from the sponsoring organizations as though average citizens aren’t adult enough to ask their own questions.
Even the method of questioning favours incumbent politicians due to name-recognition and new challengers have an uphill road having their issues discussed. Why are our politicians so afraid of their own citizens that we can’t just dispense with the representatives appointed to read people’s questions for them and let citizens ask their own questions of their politicians?
But back to Bradner Hall.
Why, I wondered, were the incumbents raised up behind a table on the dais while the challengers were forced to find seating in the audience? In a matter of weeks most of those on the dais will be without a job. Those with the courage to ask to be re-elected are supposed to be on an equal footing with the rest of the candidates.
The whole point of the process in which we are engaged is that during this period in the existence of a city council, more than any other, we are all equal again and we are choosing, collectively, who among us we want to have represent us and look after our interests at City Hall.
I think it was completely inappropriate for the incumbents, many of whom have been on council for two and three terms and more, to be raised above us all and separated from the other candidates.
I’m certainly not accusing the Rural Ratepayers Association of deliberately favouring the incumbent mayor and council.
But I would like to suggest that next time they consider a semi-circle of chairs, on the floor, at the front of the room facing the audience occupied by all candidates in a random order. Each candidate would then be called up to the microphone and podium at the centre of the semi-circle to give their two-minute spiel before going back to sit with the rest of the candidates.
What do you think?
This is for all the politicians municipal, provincial and federal,past, present and future.
WHILE WALKING DOWN THE STREET ONE DAY A “MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT” IS TRAGICALLY HIT BY A TRUCK AND DIES. HIS SOUL ARRIVES IN HEAVEN AND IS MET BY ST. PETER AT THE ENTRANCE.
WELCOME TO HEAVEN,’SAYS ST. PETER.’ BEFORE YOU SETTLE IN, IT SEEMS THERE IS A PROBLEM. WE SELDOM SEE A HIGH OFFICIAL AROUND THESE PARTS, YOU SEE, SO WE’RE NOT SURE WHAT TO DO WITH YOU.’
‘NO PROBLEM, JUST LET ME IN,’ SAYS THE MAN.
‘WELL, I’D LIKE TO, BUT I HAVE ORDERS FROM HIGHER UP. WHAT WE’LL DO IS HAVE YOU SEND OE DAY IN HELL AND ONE IN HEAVEN. THEN YOU CHOOSE WHERE TO SPEND ETERNITY.’
‘REALLY, I,VE MADE UP MY MIND. I WANT TO BE IN HEAVEN,’ SAYS THE MP.
‘I’M SORRY BUT WE HAVE OUR RULES.’
AND WITH THAT, ST. PETER ESCORTS HIM TO THE ELEVATOR AND HE GOES DOWN, DOWN, DOWN TO HELL. THE DOORS OPEN AND HE FINDS HIMSELF IN THE MIDDLE OF A GREEN GOLF COURSE. IN THE DISTANCE THERE’S A CLUBHOUSE AND STANDING IN FRONT OF IT ARE ALL HIS FRIENDS AND OTHER POLITICIANS WHO HAD WORKED WITH HIM.
EVERYONE IS VERY HAPPY AND IN EVENING DRESS. THEY RUN TO GREET HIM, SHAKE HIS HAND, AND REMINISCE ABOUT THE GOOD TIMES THEY HAD WHILE GETTING RICH AT THE EXPENSE OF THE PEOPLE.
THEY PLAY A FRIENDLY GAME OF GOLF AND THEN DINE ON LOBSTER, CAVIAR AND CHAMPAGNE.
ALSO PRESENT IS THE DEVIL, WHO REALLY IS A VERY FRIENDLY & NICE GUY WHO HAS A GOOD TIME DANCING AND TELLING JOKES. THEY ARE HAVING SUCH A GOOD TIME THAT BEFORE HE REALIZES IT, IT’S TIME TO GO.
EVERYONE GIVES HIM A HEARTY FAREWELL AND WAVES WHILE THE ELEVATOR RISES….
THE ELEVATOR GOES UP, UP, UP AND THE DOOR OPENS ON HEAVEN WHERE ST.PETER IS WAITING FOR HIM.
‘NOW IT’S TIME TO VISIT HEAVEN.’
SO, 24 HOURS PASS WITH THE MP JOINING A GROUP OF CONTENTED SOULS MOVING FROM CLOUD TO CLOUD, PLAYING THE HARP AND SINGING. THEY HAVE A GOOD TIME AND BEFORE HE REALIZES IT, THE 24 HOURS HAVE GONE BY AND ST.PETER RETURNS.
‘WELL THEN, YOU’VE SPENT A DAY IN HELL AND ANOTHER IN HEAVEN.NOW CHOOSE YOUR ETERNITY.’
THE MP REFLECTS FOR A MINUTE, THEN HE ANSWERS: ‘WELL, I WOULD NEVER HAD SAID IT BEFORE, I MEAN HEAVEN HAS BEEN DELIGHTFUL BUT I THINK I WOULD BE BETTER OFF IN HELL.’
SO, ST.PETER ESCORTS HIM TO THE ELEVATOR AND HE GOES DOWN, DOWN, DOWN TO HELL.
NOW THE DOORS OF THE ELEVATOR OPEN AND HE’S IN THE MIDDLE OF A BARREN LAND COVERED WITH WASTE AND GARBAGE.
HE SEES ALL HIS FRIENDS, DRESSED IN RAGS, PICKING UP THE TRASH AND PUTTING IT IN BLACK BAGS AS MORE TRASH FALLS FROM ABOVE.
THE DEVIL COMES OVER TO HIM AND PUTS HIS ARM AROUND HIS SHOULDER. ‘I DON’T UNDERSTAND,’ STAMMERS THE MP. ‘YESTERDAY I WAS HERE AND THERE WAS A GOLF COURSE AND CLUBHOUSE, AND WE ATE LOBSTER NAD CAVIAR, DRANK CHAMPAGNE, DANCED AND HAD A GREAT TIME. NOW THERE’S JUST A WASTELAND FULL OF GARBAGE AND FRIENDS LOOK MISERABLE.’
‘WHAT HAPPENED?’
THE DEVIL LOOKS AT HIM, SMILES AND SAYS, ‘YESTERDAY WE WERE CAMPAIGNING…..’
‘TODAY YOU VOTED.’