More slates in this civic election may be a good thing: expert
Posted November 14, 2014 8:07 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – If you’re a close watcher of municipal politics, you may have noticed more parties running slates of candidates in tomorrow’s civic election.
Some incumbents are finding themselves with more of a challenge this time around, possibly because of those slates.
Political scientist Dennis Pilon says having parties at the civic level allows you to better understand the differences between the candidates.
“And we know from studying this kind of thing that that does actually help people become a little more involved because they’re not facing a sea of independents — like here in Toronto… I mean, you can’t tell one person from the next,” says Pilon.
He adds provincial legislation in Ontario prohibits party labels at the municipal level.
“My recommendation to the provincial legislature would be get rid of that because where we have parties at the civic level in Montreal and Vancouver, the public’s ability to get involved and understand what the differences are between the different politicians is much greater,” says Pilon.
Cities in Metro Vancouver that have generally not had slates running, but do for these elections include Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, and New Westminster.
News1130 will have special election coverage tomorrow, starting 7 p.m., anchored by Jim Bennie. Our team of reporters will be stationed all over the Lower Mainland to bring you results.
