So what are the impressions  so far? About 10% have voted and some will never vote and the others are waiting for something to inspire them to vote. The campaign so far has been brutal, fueled by Social Media. We have been deluged by ardent supporters of the mayor and their stridency, videos of the Mayor on Instagram, restrained images and well thought out texts by the other two Mayoral candidates. We are not sure just how any of these activities have influenced voters as opposed to reinforcing closed minds looking for opinions to agree with.

It seems that some voters, especially the supporters of the Mayor may have claimed victory already and the other side is quietly waiting to see what happens. The big fear we have seen is “vote-splitting”. Will a vote for either Nicole Beatty or Max LeMarchant take votes from each other and Mr. Cleveland will eke out a win? But let’s face it there is no such thing as “Voting-Day” any more. It has been destroyed by ten days of on-line voting. The idea of the community trucking down to the Polling Station is an ancient memory. The idea that we can have a celebration as the votes come in at a local watering hole where the workers and candidates eagerly await the results trickling in has gone. The ten second announcement at the Town Hall as to who the winners are will be it.

Driving around the West End of Town yesterday one thing stood out – the lack of candidates signs. Maybe the candidates, in their door knocking have not been asking for sign locations, maybe residents don’t want to advertise their personal preferences or just the candidates haven’t been in that area. Very strange!

As to us at the BR we haven’t made a final decision on the Mayor’s race except to decide that Mr. Cleveland will not be on the ballot for us. In that vein we think that the rest of the Council race depends on what we have seen on the platforms and debates. The choice is very simple – who will be strong enough and vocal enough to be able to withstand the acknowledged style and attitudes of Mr. Cleveland? Who will be willing to speak to the Citizens publicly from the Council Chairs, we have had ‘mutes’ for the past four years! He has denigrated his present Council as “not a team”, he has failed to communicate any policies to them and delivers mandates and motions without any input from the team. God help the next team because Mr. Cleveland will not. So who will be independent enough to be able to function as a team in that environment and explain to the public, in public, just what is going on at all times? Also another requirement for our choices will be to eliminate any candidate wants to cure the ‘social ills’ of the Town through aggressive ‘street-policing’ and who supports mandatory rehab for the “criminal addicts”. In fact of the people running, who all say the same thing – “We want to a humane solution”” none of them have had real positive ideas because there aren’t any in the present environment. So we, the voters are left with the listening to the same platitudes from all of them – “We need to get the Province and the Feds involved”. Well good luck with that no money or services in the pipeline so far. We hate to be so cynical but have we had any innovative ideas from any of the candidates so far? One was the idea to hire a “Wesleyville Industrial Attraction Specialist” another was to help out Seniors with their food bills. Both so far out of the mainstream political thinking the establishment will be dismissing them.

So  the final observation is about the style of campaigning and modern electioneering. Most of it negative and loud especially driven by one particular Facebook group that declares its first rule “No attacking” –  and to be expected when negativism works especially amongst angry voters. Also the division in the Community is going to be hard to overcome and who of the next Council will be able to heal it, because I believe if Mr. Cleveland wins the Chair there will not be any attempt to heal or collaborate – the Winner takes all and the team falls in line! So choose the team very carefully.