Skip to content

Office space

IT's debatable what our largely non-existent mayors' races in the three North Shore municipalities really say about our community.

IT's debatable what our largely non-existent mayors' races in the three North Shore municipalities really say about our community.

The two incumbents and one mayorelect by acclamation would likely say it means people are happy with things the way they are; if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And it's possible they're right.

Voters, generally, are more motivated to vote people out than to vote them in, so when there's no overwhelming reason to change things up, it hardly seems worth the time to go to the ballot box. Certainly, there doesn't seem to be much by way of regime change being contemplated in any of the three local municipalities this time around.

In West Vancouver, where politics always seems to happen below the surface, there was a deafening silence when current Mayor Pam GoldsmithJones handed the baton to Michael Smith. In the end, the only people who will have voted for the mayor this time are those who signed the nomination papers.

In North Vancouver, neither city mayor Darrell Mussatto nor district mayor Richard Walton is facing a challenger who could be described as a credible threat.

Maybe our general disregard for politics and politicians translates down to people being unwilling to put themselves forward for what is often a thankless job. That would be too bad.

The lack of choice will translate into lack of engagement in the political process generally. That lack of engagement will in turn reinforce our lack of choice.

The end result will be complacency on the part of our leaders, and ultimately a failure to represent residents' interests.