Hopefully, as you read this, you have or are planning to vote in the municipal election.
As was noted earlier in the week in this paper, municipal elections don't generate too much interest.
At around 30 per cent eligible voter turnout, municipal elections trail both federal and provincial numbers.
Odd really, considering that for the most part it is local government that has the most affect on our everyday lives.
The issues in Delta, as per usual, weigh mostly in the infrastructure versus farmland category. Throw in some development issues and declining funding for education and you have the playing field set for the candidates.
Watching all-candidates debates and reading profiles online and in our local newspapers has been interesting.
On the school board front, the incumbents have been criticized for closing schools. Facing an extremely testing financial situation with no money, all but one trustee showed courage and voted to make a very difficult choice.
At municipal hall, area plans and agriculture plans have been in the works.
Emotional statements like "food not freeways" and "grow food not houses" sound reasonable but do little to manage the complexities of governing a community that is an important part of the Metro Vancouver puzzle, and a key player in provincial and federal trade.
Inevitably, all levels of government have to work together, especially here in Delta.
Farmers have to know the market for their goods. Product pricing is still the predominant driver in agricultural trade and retail store managers will tell you the majority of consumers are still making food purchase decisions based upon price.
The larger market dictates how our local farmers operate.
Saving farmland is a commendable goal, but saving farmers to farm is a better goal! That means a fair return on production to ensure farming continues. Saving land doesn't guarantee a fair return to farmers, or that the land will be farmed at all.
If this is understood, perhaps the relationship between land use and infrastructure build out in a trad-ing economy can be more readily reconciled.
On the issue of community health and development, there was an excellent op-ed piece in the Vancouver Sun the other day.
"(In) this municipal election, think 'health' the 21st century way," says Dr. Patricia Daly, VP of public health for Vancouver Coastal Health, who suggests "we need to consider that 'health' is not only about the number of hospital beds and health services in our neighbourhood."
She goes on to say that "communities can be built in ways that encourage or discourage healthy living choices, such as walking, cycling, eating fresh foods and connecting with neighbours [...] A neighbourhood's availability of quality housing for a range of incomes and for people at various stages of their lives impact community well-being and health-care costs."
Effective politicians need to have the will to diligently engage in searching for compromise and solutions to complex problems.
They have to be able to work well with each other and be pragmatic in their decision making.
Choose carefully. Regardless of outcomes, to all those who have stood up to undertake what can be a very difficult job, thank you!
