Saturday, February 10, 2007

Here You Go Oshawa…Here’s Your General Vote Ballot

This is what your ballot would look like if the recent municipal elections had been held under the general vote and you were a public school supporter. It is important that you are aware of what each of these candidates stand for in order to make INFORMED CHOICES for good government in Oshawa. GOOD LUCK—and good luck to Oshawa because your choices will determine Oshawa’s future.


FOR MAYOR---SELECT ONE

John GRAY

Dawn TURNER

Alexander William KEMP



FOR LOCAL COUNCIL ONLY---SELECT UP TO THREE

Doug BAIN

John C. BURNS

Dave CHYZNAK

Tim DOBSON

Robert GOHEEN

Doug HAWKINS

Michael KETTELA

Kyle NICHOLSON

Tito-Dante MARIEMPIETRI

Johnny MILOSH

Louise V. PARKES

Maryanne SHOULDRA

Dave THOMPSON



FOR LOCAL AND REGIONAL COUNCIL---SELECT UP TO SEVEN

Pauline BEAL

Cathy CLARKE

April CULLEN

Mary Jo CUNHA

John HENRY

Steven GAMSBY

Lanny JOSEPH

Joseph KOLODZIE

Robert LUTCZYK

LynneMarie McCARTHY

John NEAL

Brian NICHOLSON

Mike NICHOLSON

Nestor PIDWERBECKI

David PURDY

Doug ROSS

John RZESNUT

Bruce SMITH

Murray STRONG

Doug TERWILLEGAR

Gord VICKERS

Yoge PATEL



TRUSTEE, DURHAM REGION SCHOOL BOARD---SELECT UP TO THREE

Michael BARRETT

David C. CONWAY

Margo E. HAWKINS

Kathleen Ann HOPPER

Larry JACULA

Julia McCREA

Ken PARKS

Bill PATTERSON

Susan SHETLER

Pamela VERHAGEN




Does this make sense to you? We have to turn around Council’s ludicrous move to implement a general vote….just to insure their lifetime seats on council. That is the only reason why this move is being put forward. Voters are more likely to select names they've heard of, the members of council, whose names are regularly in the press. That is why politicians will argue, backbite, bitch, and bicker to get the press to "grow" their name recognition. As every council member is a competitor for votes under the "at-large" general vote, they will be reluctant to support council peers with good ideas that is likely to provide them press. The result? Council stagnates into a "do-nothing" government as happened under Oshawa's past with the General Vote prior to 1985. We can't let Council turn back the hands of time to the devastation of a General Vote.


If you demand a stop to this council "self-serving" nonsense, then write the mayor and council and tell them so. The link is on the right sidebar and any letter addressed to the mayor and council has to be accepted by council and appears in the official minutes of Oshawa City Council. Letters to individual members are unofficial and can be disposed of with no record of your concern.


We need a system that serves the city and its people, not the politicians!





4 comments:

Anonymous said...

And, to think....

People were ALREADY complaining this past election about the amount of signs and campaign liturature that came around during the elections...

Now, let's look at the averages. From using an average of 3 regional candidates per ward (22 in total) and 5 local candidates per ward. Instead of recieving propaganda from the 3 mayoral candidates, 3 Regional candidates, and 5 Local Candidates, we will NOW recieve material from the 3 Mayoral Candidates, as well as ALL FOURTEEN Local Candidates, and ALL TWENTY-TWO, yes, that's right, ALL TWENTY-TWO Regional Candidates!

So, that means that you, the people of Oshawa, will have to make your choices, based on seeing a few flyers from THIRTY-NINE DIFFERENT CANDIDATES IN THE ELECTION!!!

Why is it that there are some out there that ACTUALLY belive this is better? Ironically enough, their reasons are simple and selfish.

They know that there are certain entrenched politicians in this city, that THEY HAVE A PERSONAL AGENDA AGAINST.

Now, they choose to ignore the fact that they cannot vote for nor against that person or persons, because they do not live in the wards in question, so they think the only way to get these people out is to make them run city wide, instead of having them focus on wards.

What they FAIL TO REALIZE (shockingly), is that the reasons that they dislike these people, are because these particular politicians, are doing EXACTLY WHAT IT IS THAT THEIR CONSTINTUANTS HAVE ELECTED THEM TO DO!

Realistically, the day that ANY of these politicians FAIL to represent the people of their ward in the manner that is expected, they find themselves unemployed. It happens to them all! So, why is the change from Ward System to General Vote needed?

In fact, what everyone seems to be missing, is that Oshawa OVERWHELMINGLY supported the Ward system when it was first introduced in the 1980's, and as such, WHY WAS IT EVEN BROUGHT UP IN THE FIRST PLACE?

Site Administrator said...

Anonymous has made some very good points. Too bad he/she didn't provide his/her name to give these comments far more weight. This comment will find it's way to the main posting page---hopefully the author won't mind!

Bob Graham said...

Apologies, it was my post, I am usually signed in automatically...

Bob Graham.

Site Administrator said...

Thanks Bob...this will be published on main posting tonight.