To the editor:
This year's municipal election is really shaping into a competitive race for all the positions.
Many of the candidates are working very hard for you, the citizen and voter, to have the chance to hear their platform and compare it against that of their opponents.
The new candidates are very likely going to be unable to personally reach all of you with their message. There are large obstacles to overcome for those running: time, money, the backroom work, campaign regulations, door-to-door work, and voter attitude.
Candidates are not "all the same". In fact, candidates often differ greatly on their routes to similar goals. The voters are much more the same than the candidates.
I keep reading "the candidates need to get their information out to the voter". You, the citizen and voter, need to step up and do your job in the election. Don't vote for someone because you recognize their name and/or they won before so "they must be good.”
Don't expect information about all the candidates to be found in a single location, or the entirety of a candidate's campaign to be summed up in a single written or spoken blurb. Don't wait and expect the information will just find you.
Web search by name, city and ward, view web search results beyond the first page, read the paper, listen to the news, read social media (i.e.
Twitter, Facebook; you don't need to join social media to do this), go to the candidate forums and debates, debate with your friends or online, directly contact the candidates, encourage others to get involved in the election process, then do it all again to get the updates.
It is up to you as well to rock the vote Canadian style.
Candidates' campaign information is being presented for public viewing and much of it is easy to find. Look at your hands. Let those fingers do the walking. People elsewhere in the world are having their thumbs and fingers chopped off for having voted. What are you doing for your right to vote?
Paul Sloan
Red River Ward, Thunder Bay councillor candidate PaulSloan.org
