There’s a by election coming on April 29 to replace Ray Elliott’s seat on municipal council. We have four people running, all of whom I think would be fantastic additions to council.
And I know people are already talking about it. For those of us who have been in town for decades, we know each of these people quite well. We know what they’ve done and how hard each of them has worked in the communities within the municipality.
I’ve been very happy to see questions of a generic form being asked and answered on social media because in this job, I’m always thinking of the best way to get people involved in something as vitally important as a municipal election. Certainly, it makes sense that people will vote for people they know and, in this job, I have to come up with way to give each of the candidates a forum to present their views, their priorities and their thoughts on what they’d like to bring to the council table. And I can tell you that I truly think that everyone on the by election ballot will bring much to the table.
It’s great to see that this discussion has already started - on social media.
Over the weekend, I spotted a post where someone who has been in the community for a few years – and truthfully is very community minded and has volunteered on so many community initiatives since he came here.
He had a simple and perfect question for people on Facebook.
“What advice would you have for a new voter?”
The answers that come from four community members were great.
I’m going to start with one man who said that this by election was a useless waste of money – especially considering that there will be an election for all of council this October.

Read the full opinion piece on page 4 of this week's Russell Banner.