Our recent municipal election campaigns were very well covered by this newspaper. Much data was published on each candidate, and if forums were attended, then every citizen had sufficient information to make informed decisions.
Tara Veer is a wise choice for mayor. She is a brilliant, dynamic lady. Besides having solid family values, she has a university degree in sociology, which is the study of society’s structure, its institutions and its relationships. This degree would seem to me to be ideal for assisting Miss Veer in facing the challenges of the mayor’s chair. Red Deerians will be well served for the next four years.
Allow me to interject a few personal observations regarding this election experience. Firstly, my wife and I spent a few hours delivering brochures in three of Red Deer’s neighbourhoods. One was an older neighbourhood (in fact, it was the first suburb in our city). I noticed that many older homes still had what was likely the original mailbox, by now somewhat discoloured and rusty. What was humourous was the signage still stuck on old mailboxes — No junk mail. This signage probably had meaning 50 or 60 years ago when the Royal Mail was first joined by flyers, etc. In modern times, no mail is junk mail. Every item is costly and put in mailboxes for a definite purpose, intending to be useful to the residence dweller. I would like to believe that most of these No junk mail homes are rental units with absentee landlords.
A second observation: The question on the ballot regarding a ward system was an exercise in silliness. Appropriately, it received a resounding No, which attests to the common sense of most voters.
A third observation would only be mentioned by a political animal like myself. Left-leaning or right-leaning? That is the question. Admittedly, I have no faith in left-leaners, in other words socialists. Their history, provincially in Canada, is littered with big government, big debt, big promises, bad policies, and bankruptcy (both financial and moral).
Jim Swan
Red Deer