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Friday, January 25, 2013
Province plans change to four-year council terms
EDMONTON - Municipal Affairs Minister Doug Griffiths confirmed Thursday the government will seek to pass legislation this fall that will set four-year terms for municipal councillors, up from three years.
Comment: Now this I think we all knew about and were expecting.
Other issues raised in recent years have included campaign finance rules for municipalities and allowing Albertans with multiple homes to choose where they vote. (my emphasis).
Comment: This, however, is a surprise to me and has the potential to be quite disconcerting to establishment types, once they start thinking about it.
If weekenders start having the option to vote in municipal elections will that not change the dynamics of who and how small communities are run? After all, in our community we have roughly 1/3 who are weekenders who in the past had no say in who got elected and who didn't, because they couldn't vote here. Because as weekenders this was not their primary residence, and therefore they were disqualified from doing so, according to the old rules or requirements.
I see this as a game changer in many ways especially for small-knit communities set in their ways, unwilling or unable to change, and not needing to because they had the lock on elections, to now needing to be inclusive rather than exclusive in order to maintain the status quo, or some sense of power and control.
Interesting to say the least. In fact, maybe a little too progressive for those who have had it their way for far to long, as was the case here until the arrival of DA MARE who many long-time residents thought would maintain the status quo they had enjoyed for so many years under Irwin, only to discover to their chagrin and horror one of their own could pull the rug right from under their feet, and rock their world more than what the Frank Slide did here over a hundred years ago.
For the full-story go here.
We live in a moment of history where change is so speeded up that we begin to see the present only when it is already disappearing.
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5 comments:
our mayor must of had a heads up on this one. Just a little while ago he was requesting to meet with weekenders and people that were new to the community. Do you remember that recent post of yours John.
BINGO! Yes, Peter, now that you mention it, I do. Behaves like a man desperate for a base to get reelected from, doesn't he?
JP
Yes Obama opened the borders and is giving everyone food stamps and free phones so people would vote for him Was there not some talk about reducing taxes for weekenders???
JP said: "Behaves like a man desperate for a base to get reelected from, doesn't he?"
Weekenders will love a strip mine in their backyard.
Newcomers and weekenders won't soon forget how they were treated for decades as 'second class' residents here by the former mayor and the old boys club, which this current mayor was his protege and is still part of that club. Hypocrisy knows no bounds when it comes to the elite holding onto power.
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