So another municipal election is in the books in Delta.
The Achieving for Delta team, led by now two-term Mayor George Harvie virtually swept election night winning all six council seats and six of seven school board seats.
For the first time in Delta’s 143-year history, residents elected the first people of colour to council as Jennifer Johal and Jessie Dosanjh were elected.
This is a historic moment for our community and one that we all should be proud to be a part of.
Online comments and one letter to the editor received this week are not as pleased with the outcome, however. The comments express concern about the election of the Achieving for Delta team.
Achieving for Delta earned this election victory with a lot of hard work and organization. They ran a strong campaign that started a year ago with Harvie announcing he would be seeking re-election and at the end of May, announcing his team of candidates for council and school board.
In the 2018 municipal election campaign there were three slates battling for mayor and council, so this year was nothing new in terms of slate politics. And whether you like slates or not, they are a reality of the election process. Just look at all of the city-by-city results across the province and you will see slate politics played a role in every result.
And while I applaud all of the independent candidates who came forward, many of them missed opportunities to possibly break through.
Where were these candidates all summer? No one stepped forward until the final week of the nomination period with some putting in their nomination papers mere hours before the deadline. Were any of these independent candidates serious about this? Some didn’t bother to show up at all-candidates meetings. We had to chase many candidates just to get simple bio information and a photo to share information with our readers. That’s unacceptable when you should be doing everything possible to get out there in front of voters, especially when you know you have an uphill battle to face.
