Sprouting up like mushrooms are the election signs planted by the candidates running for District of Sooke council, the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area regional director and school trustees.
Some new faces and a whole lot of old faces are in the running. We will be, over the next few weeks, be attempting to address many of the issues that come through in our letters to the editor pages. The candidates will have the opportunity to respond in their own words and the voters can then decide where to put their tick mark on the ballot.
Whomever you vote for is your choice but the most important aspect of our governance is that you get out and vote. Sooke has a higher than average number of voters who care about the community and its future and do get out to vote. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could get more than 50 per cent of the electorate casting their vote? Wouldn’t it be even more amazing if everyone cared who was in the driver’s seat at the municipal hall? Pie-in-the-sky? Perhaps, but if we had the will to actually call for change to the way things are done, then we would really be exercising our democratic right. We could actually do it.
There will be a number of all-candidates meetings and that is your chance as a voter to question those who are looking to direct the affairs of the district for the next three years.
Are there slates of candidates now? Most likely some were convinced to run for council in order to weigh the vote on issues that have been contentious at the council table. Too bad, it would be great to have independent thoughts and ideas rather than playing follow the leader.