On mixed messages

In general, last night's municipal election results seem to reflect loads of narrowly-missed opportunities for positive change. And a lack of citizen interest figuring to be the main culprit.

For example, Heather McIntyre fell just short of winning ward 2 in a race whose numbers look like an instant replay of the Hutchinson/Shreesh Juyal contest of 2006 - except that the nearly 2,000 votes which went to a third candidate last time out stayed home. John Conway came within 150 votes of beating out Fred Clipsham - and again, about 2,000 less people voted in the ward this year than in 2006. Indeed, while a few of the 2006 ward vote totals look to have disappeared into the ether, it looks like the only ward where the 2009 winner had substantially more votes than the 2006 victor was Ward 1 - and that primarily due to the fact that there were only 3 candidates instead of 9.

Of course, it's disappointing both that public interest in the elections dropped off so precipitously from its already-minimal levels, and that we won't have more direct positive change to show for all the hard work that went into the elections. But it's also worth noting that the incumbents can hardly feel particularly comfortable either, particularly to the extent any may have actually believed that the "83% council approval" number would be reflected in the vote totals.

Rather than being able to rely on any favourable public impressions to coast to easy victory, two of the incumbents fell and three more hung on by the skin of their teeth. And not a single one of the council candidates actually reached 83% of the vote in yesterday's results - with 2006 upstart Mike O'Donnell coming closest at 75% in ward 8.

So while there wasn't much of a mandate for change, nor was there any particular groundswell of support for the current direction of the city council. Which should give all sides reason to spend a lot more time and effort building citizen interest than they seem to have done over the last three years.

For more about the elections, see LRT and Dog Blog.

Municipal Election Breakdown - Regina Ward 2

As I've mentioned before, Ward 2 is the one municipal campaign where I've been directly involved this year, so my endorsement shouldn't come as much surprise. That said, it's still worth taking a look at what we can expect come tomorrow night in a ward which was home to one of the closer races in 2006.

Jocelyn Hutchinson - video profile - website

While Hutchinson largely sticks to the "more of the same" party line, she's also more explicit than any of the other council candidates in pushing for ever more and bigger development, seeing the city as taking the "lead role" in MEGAPROJECTS!!! like the transport hub.

In fairness, that's balanced somewhat by at least some acknowledgment that the city also needs to invest in culture and community organizations. But if there was any doubt where Hutchinson's priorities lie, it should be put to rest when one notes that her 2006 promise of a better recycling program seems to have been dropped from her platform this time around. But then I suppose it's tough to juggle even a single new idea along with a deep philosophical position like "lives in the ward".

Heather McIntyre - video profile - website

Needless to say, Hutchinson's abandonment of green issues makes for a stark contrast compared to McIntyre, whose platform includes both a curbside recycling program in particular, and a more general commitment to sustainable development among other policy priorities.

As for most of the challengers, the main question for McIntyre is whether she's been able to get her message out to enough people to overcome the name recognition advantage of the incumbent. All indications that I've seen look promising - but we'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out for sure.

Endorsement

Strong progressive challenger + weak conservative incumbent = easy decision. The endorsement goes to Heather McIntyre.

On big projects

I'll have plenty more to say about the Regina municipal races over the next little while. But for now, I'll take a moment to mention my stake in one of the campaigns, as I'll be contributing some content to the web presence for Heather McIntyre's campaign in Ward 2.

But of course I'll also continue to put together content which is purely mine rather than having anything to do with the campaign - such as this first response to the "The ONLY" theme which McIntyre's opponent Jocelyn Hutchinson is pushing:


Needless to say, suggestions working off the theme are more than welcome.