Municipal elections suck

[Barrister]

It's muni voting day in Alberta.  The mayoralty race is open, so it's attracted some attention.  But I don't really know the issues much, so I thought I'd do some research in order to decide who to vote for - not only for mayor, but for city councillor and school trustee.

Ugh.

Say what you will about federal or provincial elections, but there's at least some level of policy difference between the candidates.  Not so at municipal elections.  There are no set "platforms" that I can see, just vague sets of catchphrases and keywords that are interchangeable between the candidates.  And of course it's worse of all when you get to the school board level.

[crazy canuck]

I am not as surprised that Edmonton doesnt generate a diversity of political views at the local level.  If you want municipal politics where the candidates represent very different positions you should live around here.  Municipal politics are often more interesting than the Provincal and certainly more interesting than the Federal varieties.

[Barrister]

I am not as surprised that Edmonton doesnt generate a diversity of political views at the local level.  If you want municipal politics where the candidates represent very different positions you should live around here.  Municipal politics are often more interesting than the Provincal and certainly more interesting than the Federal varieties.

It's not so much that there isn't a diversity of views.  I believe there is.

It's that you can't actually tell what that diversity is by looking at campaign literature / websites.  Issues about density vs sprawl, infrastructure investments and high debt loads, vs more modest ambitions.

Instead I get gobledygook about "visions for the future" and "consulting stakeholders".

[The Brain]

Is there a hot chick?

[DGuller]

It's muni voting day in Alberta.  The mayoralty race is open, so it's attracted some attention.  But I don't really know the issues much, so I thought I'd do some research in order to decide who to vote for - not only for mayor, but for city councillor and school trustee.

Ugh.

Say what you will about federal or provincial elections, but there's at least some level of policy difference between the candidates.  Not so at municipal elections.  There are no set "platforms" that I can see, just vague sets of catchphrases and keywords that are interchangeable between the candidates.  And of course it's worse of all when you get to the school board level.

The senselessness of the politicians is inversely proportional with the power of the office.  The ugliest politics happen at the neighborhood and school district level.  The only exception to that rule is US Congress.

[Admiral Yi]

There's one dude who keeps running over and over for a city council seat in Iowa City who's entire platform is legalization of chicken raising within city limits.

[The Brain]

There's one dude who keeps running over and over for a city council seat in Iowa City who's entire platform is legalization of chicken raising within city limits.

Is his name Himmler?

[Barrister]

There's one dude who keeps running over and over for a city council seat in Iowa City who's entire platform is legalization of chicken raising within city limits.

That's more of a platform than any of the turkeys I get to vote for today have put forward.

[Savonarola]

There's one dude who keeps running over and over for a city council seat in Iowa City who's entire platform is legalization of chicken raising within city limits.

There was one guy who ran for the city council in one of Detroit's suburbs who ran on a platform of ending US recognition for Israel.  After losing he ran for the school board on the same platform (and did about as well.)

[The Brain]

There's one dude who keeps running over and over for a city council seat in Iowa City who's entire platform is legalization of chicken raising within city limits.

There was one guy who ran for the city council in one of Detroit's suburbs who ran on a platform of ending US recognition for Israel.  After losing he ran for the school board on the same platform (and did about as well.)

What a shocker. It's amazing how many people still claim that Jews don't control everything.

[Neil]

Yeah, it's tough to parse through the nonsense to find out what these clowns stand for.  Fortunately, one of the two councilor candidates I was considering left a flyer on my windshield this morning, which meant that I didn't have to consider voting for him after all.

Still, with no platforms and no polling, it's impossible to vote effectively.  And that's the way they like it.

[Neil]

I went and voted.

[MadImmortalMan]

We have a guy who has been, for the last decade or so, taking the floor at city council meetings and singing songs about city politics while playing his guitar. He also runs for city council every time and occasionally for mayor. Sometimes he doesn't have any new songs so he just sings some James Taylor or Bob Dylan.


I'm sure he'll be singing about school shootings at the next meeting.

[DontSayBanana]

We have a guy who has been, for the last decade or so, taking the floor at city council meetings and singing songs about city politics while playing his guitar. He also runs for city council every time and occasionally for mayor. Sometimes he doesn't have any new songs so he just sings some James Taylor or Bob Dylan.


I'm sure he'll be singing about school shootings at the next meeting.

Jeremy?  Janie's Got a Gun?  Try to hook the youngsters with Pumped Up Kicks?

[Grey Fox]

Our municipal elections are on the 3rd of November.

I live in Laval, our last mayor, in office since 1989, quit & was arrested & accused of, among other things, gangsterism.

Yet the race with 8 mayor candidate is boring as hell. Everyone is running on integrity & turning our streets into Bicyle lovers.