Now that the Shawville Fair is done, summer has come to an end and fall is upon us.
Along with children going back to school and farmers harvesting their crops, this year marks the first time residents will be electing the warden of the MRC Pontiac.
This is a unique opportunity as it gives people in the Pontiac more of a say in electoral matters.
Traditionally, each municipality elects councillors and a mayor. Each mayor then voted one of to the position of warden.
We already have two confirmed entrants into the race: former Pontiac MNA Charlotte L’Écuyer and current Warden Raymond Durocher.
Additionally, two more candidates have announced their intentions to run but have not officially declared: former Mayor of Calumet Island Pierre Frechette and Spruceholme Inn owner Jane Toller.
This gives Pontiac residents four bona fide choices for warden. Each one has relevant experience that they can bring to the table.
It’s a good start, but more needs to be done to improve the state of democracy at a local level.
In the last municipal election, the number of council seats won by acclimation – that is, unopposed – was embarrassingly high.
There are 122 elected seats in the Pontiac’s municipalities, including the mayor positions and councillors. Out of those 122 seats, 70 were won unopposed. That amounts to nearly 60 per cent of all municipal seats in the Pontiac having only one candidate.
This shows that there isn’t enough interest when it comes to citizens running for office.
This is surprising, especially given the fact that so many people participate in community groups, give time volunteering and have a strong sense of community here in the Pontiac.
For instance, the Pontiac Voice Facebook group garnered more than 3,000 members in response to the potential implementation of paid parking at the Pontiac Community Hospital.
This shows that people care about political issues, especially local ones, which is why it’s so hard to square the lack of participation in municipal politics with the clear desire for better representation.
Why don’t more people run for office?
For one, the fact that so many people are a part of community groups may prevent them from running for office. All of the time that needs to be put aside to fulfill a role as a volunteer means there is less time to dedicate to a political position.
The jobs themselves aren’t the best-paid jobs. This means that it’s tough to attract qualified candidates. Many of those who sit on municipal councils are retired or have another job to make ends meet.
This doesn’t exactly ensure good governance.
We need to make sure that when a politician is elected, he or she will treat their elected office as the number one priority.
But if the jobs are essentially treated as part-time positions by the municipalities themselves, should we really be surprised if we don’t get the best and brightest our communities can offer?
Perhaps councillors should get a bit of a pay bump, if only to ensure that we attract better – or more – candidates. At very least, we could cut down on the number of councillors in each municipality and spread the money that was saved to the other councillors.
Surely both Shawville and Clarendon don’t need a mayor and six councillors each. That’s fourteen elected officials for a population under 3,000 people.
Why not cut the number in half and double the wages of the remaining councillors?
This can be done across several municipalities and could go a long way to attracting new blood and fresh ideas to the Pontiac’s political landscape.
Now is the time to debate these kinds of measures.
The elections might seem far off, but time is ticking down quickly and the state of the economy in the Pontiac demands we act now.
Chris Lowrey
