A MATTER OF CONSCIENCE - CAN YOU LIVE WITH COWARDICE

If I had been an advisor to each of the election candidates, in this October’s municipal elections, I would have spent the first hour with a reality bombardment. It would undoubtedly be a full hour of explanation, about the horrors yet to come, should they actually win their respective elections. I would fill them with doom and gloom, the concept of having four years full of untold responsibilities, having to face pent-up citizen frustration and anger, having triple the amount of phone calls, cards and letters, threats and innuendos about actions and reactions yet to come. I would make sure that each candidate was aware that the next four years serving Gravenhurst, as elected officials, will test their mettle above and beyond the call of duty. I would tell them to toughen up, expect the conflict of the century, and to prepare themselves for a barrage of anything and indeed everything. To bolster my point, I’d give them an eight by ten image of myself for their portfolios, to prepare them for the distinct possibility, I will be defending my citizen, neighborhood, town and otherwise democratic rights if and when provoked......and give them a chance to muster some sensible, intelligent answers to my concerns, before I get to the microphone. I’ve been told I irritate people with my honesty. I’m sure of it! I’m just not frivolous about any of my posturing for democracy and environmental protection.

And I would follow up by asking, “Do you think I’m kidding?” Well, if you’ve read much of this blog at all, you’d know I’m not being sarcastic or making light of a serious situation. So why will this term of office be different than the others? The past four years (especially with a guy like me ragging on about preserving The Bog) were kind of tough, weren’t they? Well, here are some differences, some showing through long before the vote.

I’ve covered a lot of elections for the local press, and I’ve studied them all out of my own interest in municipal governance. The difference this year is the carry-over anger, frustration, and economic woes of the past decade, all welling up and some of it still open to debate. There is a new and powerful confluence of unresolved issues and some catching-up to do, on the part of groups like the Ratepayers Association and the Business Improvement Association, who have some rather big bones to pick. And seeing as there are quite a few present councillors who are seeking re-election, three jumping at the chance to become the new mayor, the divide between the groups is different only by the torrent that rages in the gap between.....simply because outstanding issues over the past four years, were not satisfactorily resolved.

There are some possible elections scenarios however, that could put these unresolved issues into the life-blood of council itself, and cease to be items easily fobbed-off as distant annoyances, like sort of a headache but not quite yet! There are certain combinations of candidates, if elected, that could be quite volatile, (and we could use some of that to stir up complacency), and a council watcher might be quite amazed at how democracy can be improved by the critical approach I subscribe. We need more aggressive debate at the council table, and folks who are not afraid of standing up for what they believe, and to represent the interests and concerns of us all......that would be a capital idea.

There could be combinations as well, that create a dysfunction, to begin with, as the returning old guard, gets pushed out of their usual format of normalcy. I see a great likelihood of this happening, and there is a distinct possibility that the council debate might actually have a wee trace of fire within, and it’s going to upset the applecart, of those who have this “divine” aura about them, just because they won a poorly supported vote in a small, rural Ontario community. I would be surprised if this term doesn’t generate one or more resignations, when the elected officials begin to realize just how imposing new realities can be......and this will give other more courageous candidates a chance to run in a by-election. From knowing many of the candidates in this election, and their positions honed from past run-ins with local government, and all the past business that still rubs the citizens raw, the going is likely to be very, very aggressive from the onset, and personal agendas will be worn like breastplates. I’m not adverse at all to a wee bit of knocking about, because the survivors of this vigorous posturing, to finally get a say in municipal affairs, will eventually set democracy on its rightful course of grinding out solutions, like a giant pepper mill.

My advice to all candidates, is to review carefully the reasons they want to be members of council. If you’re trying to prove a popularity issue, gads, you’re screwed. If you’re doing this for a pay check, well, you’re nuts. It’s not enough to take what you are going to get from, as they say, “all sides!” If however, you thrive on adversity, love nothing more than a great, no-holds barred debate, are always willing to learn and adapt to prevailing situations, and you really, really love this community, and want to see it prosper, then by all means......represent us with the same dynamic.

I have known councillors brought to tears by angry ratepayers, and I’ve had coffee with some who wanted to quit but were ashamed to do so, because of the public opinion that they had somehow failed in a simple task. I’ve met with career politicians who got bored when there wasn’t controversy brewing, and did their best work under fire and in demand. I’ve had mayors who asked me, the scribe, what I would do in their position, to handle a pending crisis. And I’ve always had the same answer to all concerns. “There are folks counting on you to represent them, respect them, and warn them when required. They are as vulnerable as you are, and sometimes don’t know where else to turn to get help. What may seem like anger and rudeness initially, may simply be the budding of fear, having unresolved issues, and no one else to offer help.” I’ve also known councillors who made amazing turn-arounds, getting comfortable with the idea, that problem solving and the art of negotiation, aren’t as daunting in fact, as one expects in that gut-wrenching anticipation.....much like citizens who become life-savers at accident scenes, demonstrating courage they didn’t know they possessed.

The next four years serving Gravenhurst Council will be far more difficult than the previous term, because a number of candidates for office, represent a strong force of enquiry, that will force re-elected candidates and municipal staff to answer many more delving, intrusive questions that they may have been accustomed.....regarding past decisions particularly in the area of expenditure. It may be uncomfortable for some to be forced into re-opening discussion about past actions, such as the sale of Gravenhurst Hydro, which has had an enduring negative aura attached ever since. While I don’t expect council business will be dominated in this renewed interest in controversial decisions, the fire hall allocation, the new town hall, extra spending on the new recreation center and main street re-construction will definitely spark......whether into a wee bit of shed light, or a much, much bigger illumination. Just don’t be under any illusion this will be an easy way of getting a pay check. There’s a pound of flesh going to be taken in return. I didn’t make the rules.

In one of Dr. William Dawson LeSueur’s essays, entitled “The Critic as Historian,” there are a few insights I find apply to this advisory for council hopefuls. It was composed by the man who named our community.....one of Canada’s true intellectuals. It reads as follows:

“The mere avoidance of errors will not of course make a man an historian, any more than the avoidance of grammatical blunders will make him a distinguished writer; for, after he has got his facts right, he must let the world see how he understands and correlates them. A man of less learning will sometimes discover more meaning in facts and put a better construction on them than a man of greater learning. A word to the wise is more enlightening than many words to the foolish. Emile Reich says of specialists that they have a knack of dwelling on trivialities and neglecting the most important facts. The best way to acquire true historical insight, he thinks, is to knock about the world and come into direct contact with the hurly-burly of actual human life, and so to acquire varied and intense sensorial impressions. Ben Johnson said of Shakespeare that he was ‘naturally learned”, and his wisdom assuredly did not all come from books....”

Get out an experience our community like never before. To know it is to love it!