I won't be endorsing any person for any office in next month's local elections, but I will offer my widely coveted Tip o' the Hat to four people - Margie Goodman, George Pringle, Chris Nichols and Ron Polly - for at least making races out of the two North Vancouver mayoralty contests.
It would have been depressing indeed if Darrell Mussatto and Richard Walton were returned to their big chairs after having won over a total of two voters each - the ones who signed their nomination papers.
In the district, Goodman's campaign is, sadly, something of a token effort. She filed her papers and paid her fee, but that's about it. She certainly hasn't been falling over herself to return my calls. So dissatisfied district voters have an option beyond staying home or spoiling their ballots, but I don't think Walton will be losing much sleep over it.
The city, on the other hand, is going to make a go of it. Pringle and Polly both have track records on local advisory boards and task forces, and while he doesn't have a ton of profile in the community, Pringle does know his way around an election campaign, having worked for a variety of centre-right candidates at various levels over the years. Nichols is something of newcomer to this game and I suspect having three challengers will only succeed in dividing the anti-incumbent vote. I am looking forward to the four-way debates, but again, this race is going to be more about Mussatto's record than anything else.
There are quite a few other interesting storylines to follow over the next month. Top of that list for me is that Don Bell, former district mayor (and former councillor, school trustee and MP) is making a bid for city council.
I wouldn't bet against someone with more than four decades of electoral experience, and if he does win a seat, it should make for some interesting dynamics on council. What's more, the mere presence of such a veteran district politician in the city is sure to reopen the amalgamation debate - if it ever really closed.
Some district councillors have been making noises about appointing a "blue-ribbon" panel to study the question, and it's hard to think of anyone better qualified than Bell to sit on such a board. Judging by his campaign blog, Pringle wants to talk merger as well, so that will likely be front and centre in the debates.
Amalgamation makes for interesting talk, but I don't really see it as a ballot question. Everyone wants to raise it, but no one has - yet - really married themself to the idea. It's a bit awkward to run for an office on the platform that it ought to be abolished. It is, ultimately, a question for the province and it's hard to see any political percentage for the Liberals to move on this right now. Perhaps the civic campaigns can change that.
The real issues are, as always, density and taxation. You can expect Mussatto's frequent council opponents, Rod Clark in particular, to bring up the wisdom of the city's Lonsdale developments and its twinning with Asian cities. It is terrible optics, flying councillors and staffers halfway round the world to shake hands and take pictures, but ultimately it's an insignificant line item on the budget.
What candidates should really be talking about, in my view, is how we're going to pay for transportation and utilities in the long term. Those are the big money items and, if unaddressed, they will suck the oxygen out of new rec centres, museums and other local priorities.
All incumbent District of North Vancouver councillors are seeking re-election, and all but Coun. Mary Trentadue want their seats back in the city. Two North Vancouver school trustees - Linda Buchanan and Holly Back - are giving up their board of education seats to vie for a promotion of sorts, to city and district council respectively. This may clear the way for district PAC vice-chairwoman Cyndi Gerlach, who's had a few unsuccessful attempts to get elected to the board. Chairman Mike McGraw is also hoping to unseat an incumbent.
Another interesting school board story is the return of Chris Dorais. Readers may remember that he chaired the school board until it came to light he had faced, and tried to conceal, impaired driving charges in Burnaby. They were ultimately knocked down to "driving without reasonable consideration for others" and a $300 fine. Voters, however, were not as understanding and showed him the door in 2008.
Angling for a story about his bid to "reclaim" his seat, Dorais sent me one of the more self-serving political press releases I've seen - and the bar is set pretty high for those kinds of things, as you can imagine. Dorais claimed credit for many of the school district's recent success stories, including at least one that happened well after his departure. He also clearly implied that since losing him, the board had also lost its way. Last year was full of tough calls for school district 44, and I doubt casting aspersions on future colleagues is a good way to get the chairmanship back.
Please, please get out and vote.
balldritt@nsnews.com
