Random Access

What a short, strange trip it’s been, to misquote The Grateful Dead.
This year’s municipal election campaign seems to have been a lot more cantankerous and chippy than past affairs. You almost feel like we should ask Ward 2 resident Don Cherry to do voice-over for Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em Mississauga ‘06.
Can’t you just hear it: ‘Did you see the old grey mayor nail Eve Adams into the boards there, Ron? Geeze. Now, all you kids pay attention here. That’s the way you do it. Wait until the councillor has her head down kicking her staff across the blue line and then Wham, you give her the old what-for. ‘An she got a little elbow in there, like she always does. Geeze. That was a thing of beauty.’
The election has generally not been a thing of beauty, but then what blood sport is?
Some quick observations.
Why do so many candidates put forward their names and then do absolutely nothing to get themselves elected? If you don’t have enough energy to send a picture of yourself to the newspaper, put together a 300-word outline of your reasons for running or trundle down to Rogers Television to give a three-minute spiel, how can you expect to collect a single, solitary vote?
And what’s with Rick Falco, the former Catholic school trustee who went from the favourite to win the Ward 5 council seat in the last election to running a phantom campaign for the vacated Ward 6 Dufferin-Peel seat this time around?
The all-candidates’ forum, which is the single most effective way to judge candidates, is going the way of the passenger pigeon. How could we have a marquee council race in Ward 6 without having Carolyn Parrish cross-examined about her mayoralty ambitions or Ron Starr asked about the Optimist Club camp issue that resulted in police charges against him, which were later dropped?
The all-candidates’ problem is symptomatic of a much more serious issue, the demise/dormancy of so ratepayer groups that should be the lifeblood of community discourse. Their absence is particularly hurtful at election time.
Biggest disconnect of the campaign: All the candidates pushing more efficient, effective transit who are also adamantly opposed to any higher density development. To make transit work, intensification is required. We should be talking how and where, not if. This will be the hot button issue of the next four years. Smart growth means more density in established neighbourhoods and lots more angry ratepayers.
Best campaign piece I’ve seen: Wards 1-3 Catholic candidate Mario Pascucci’s clean, readable piece, featuring photos of every school in the wards, with updates on projects at each. Easy to read and not an inch of wasted space.
Most honest statement: ‘Barring an unforeseen miracle, I don’t think I’ll be elected Nov. 13 ‘Jason Roti, Ward 3 council candidate at an all-candidates’ Monday night.
Not to be outdone by Carolyn Parrish’s smart car, mayoralty candidate Don Barber has been toodlin’ around town on a Segway, the battery-powered two-wheel motor vehicle that is being tested as part of a pilot project just approved by the provincial government. ‘On a tight budget, you have to get people’s attention and this is fantastic for that’, said Barber as passing motorists honked their approval.
By way of a segue, Barber won’t be riding his rented vehicle into the Great Hall Monday night. He’s barred from the building as part of bail conditions on an assault charge that was laid following a council meeting in August.
Barber has asked City Hall to lift the ban for one night so he could attend on election night. He has received no answer. ‘They are in stonewall mode’, he says.
The candidate is angry that so few Mississaugans seem to know or care what happens Monday. ‘It’s time to wake up and treat the election as if it matters. We have people fighting and dying for democracy in Afghanistan and here at home we’re clueless. Something is going on and it has consequences.