By Craig Cameron

On October 20, you, like voters in every municipality in British Columbia, will be asked to choose your local government representatives for the next term. The decisions you make will shape your communities for years to come, in ways that directly impact your daily life. 

If you, and people like you, don’t vote, you won’t find your values and interests represented on council and, more importantly, in council decisions. Voters over 65 tend to turn out in much greater numbers, for example, and it isn’t surprising that seniors’ issues are given high priority by all levels of government.

At the local level, your vote counts. In the 2014 election, the last councillor elected in West Vancouver was ahead of her two closest challengers by 61 and 64 votes respectively. In other communities, the margin is even closer. It is not a stretch to say that your vote could make the difference between a particular candidate winning or losing.   

Of course, you can also exert a significant influence on the choices made by your friends, family and neighbours. Given the effort required to sift through the flood of information about the issues and the candidates, many people inevitably base their voting choices on personal recommendations. As a motivated and vocal voter, you are even more powerful.

So let’s assume I’ve convinced you that it’s in your interest to vote and to select one or more candidates to get behind. How do you pick from the throng?  In North Vancouver City, a community with a population of 53,000, no fewer than six people are running for mayor and 24 people for one of six council positions. (In comparison, Vancouver is starved for candidates). 

Unless you are related to one of the candidates or are willing to adopt the “eeny, meeny, miny, moe” method of voting, there is no way you can escape doing your homework: examine their promotional materials, peruse their platform, attend events to hear them speak, or meet them, et cetera. But what, precisely, should you be looking for?

Voting for the prettiest or most dapper candidate, while tempting, is not likely to work out well. Why? Because being handsome is not a quality that makes a good councillor. 

You want someone with the right qualities. Policies and platforms change, but personalities seldom do. And there are a handful of personal qualities that, in the experience I have gained over the last seven years on West Vancouver council, augur well.

Integrity

If you can’t trust a candidate to tell the truth, be consistent and, more generally, do the right thing reliably (or at least try!), then you don’t have much to work with and they aren’t worth your time and effort. In election campaigns, it can be tempting to tell people what they want to hear, even if it isn’t something you believe. This quickly leads to telling one person one thing and another person the opposite. While we all try to make our message palatable to as broad a range of the community as possible, there is a line that shouldn’t be crossed.

Commitment  

All candidates will, or should, proclaim how committed they are to serving the community. The candidates who deserve your consideration are the ones that have demonstrated such a commitment, in various ways and over a significant period of time. The best councillors are those who know the community, know the issues, know the history, and know some of the key players. They are also people who care about the community, its residents, and public service in general.

Finally, they are people who are willing to do the work that is required to be a good councillor. One person who decided to enter the previous West Vancouver election had to ask directions to city hall so that he could file his papers. Seriously. Anyone putting themselves forward should have attended a few council meetings, for starters.     

Open-mindedness

No candidate has all the answers. Many of them don’t even know the right questions to ask. New candidates, with rare exceptions, don’t have the necessary information or knowledge to take definitive positions on most controversial issues. This isn’t a shortcoming. It’s simply a reflection of the fact that they haven’t yet been brought up to speed. 

Any candidate offering surprisingly simple solutions to difficult problems is, most likely, selling snake oil. They won’t be “solving” affordability issues or “fixing” traffic congestion. At most, their proposals will make incremental progress. Of course, all candidates should offer some ideas when they run. But it is even more important that they be willing to listen, to learn, and to consider changing their positions based on what they hear and learn. 

The people who are elected to your local council will impact your life.  Ensuring the best candidates succeed is an objective worthy of your time and effort. You can be the difference, so pick your favorites carefully and make sure you vote.