Birthday Wishes

October 2, 2026 · 0 Comments

By Sheralyn Roman

As you read this, spare a birthday wish for an aging columnist trying to celebrate a birthday today while staring down the potential implosion of the Town she loves, and her cranky knees too! Yes, this is a blatant ploy to seek birthday wishes. After all, how often do you get to pen a column and have it appear on the actual date of your birthday? I’m not really shamelessly seeking birthday wishes, but my birthday does serve as the perfect excuse to share with you what I would wish for when it comes to the future of Caledon.

What are my birthday wishes? I suppose if I am being honest my first birthday wish would be that I didn’t necessarily have to remain neutral on the topic of the election. Yes, I write an opinion column and have certainly not been shy on occasion to state my position on topics impacting the whole of our community, but we are still bound by certain guidelines. As well, it must be considered that any of the many candidates who might get elected on October 26 will quite likely be the topic of a future column. So, for me, maintaining even a modicum of collegiality is important. That said, it’s quite possible it may not happen regardless of my efforts since some candidates (reminiscent of the 5-4 split on past council issues) pretty much completely ignore me, but it’s an important goal nonetheless.

My second birthday wish would be that the campaigns, and the people involved in them (both the candidates, and their teams) stick to the issues. Caledon is staring down a monster in terms of our expected future development and what we absolutely don’t need right now are people who engage in attempts at intimidation, or people who are not blameless themselves slinging mud at their competitors. The Mayoral debate, if you watched (and which is still available on YouTube) featured a little bit of both. At the same time, I will acknowledge the debate itself was well run, the moderators maintained control and, if you ask me, one candidate might have stood out from the rest and was also, I believe, the only candidate to declare they were not accepting developer dollars.

The third birthday wish is easy. Obey the signage rules! They are quite clearly spelled out, even more so than when I last ran for office and frankly, found it very easy to follow the rules about where to put them. Blaming your team for “perhaps” misplacing a sign isn’t a sign of good leadership and if anyone has a problem with where a sign is posted, report it to bylaw. Every sign infraction costs a candidate money so let’s avoid a frivolous or vexatious claim, but where there are obvious infractions by all means report them. Of course, it can be hard to know if a sign (or a trio of signs) is in violation when we don’t always know who owns the property of concern. All the candidates talk about the importance of transparency, let’s hope our next term of Council will practice what they’re currently preaching.

I suppose I don’t want to be accused of being greedy so just one more wish, but I won’t lie I have saved the biggest for last. I mentioned a “monster” earlier. Whether you call that monster any of the following: “development;” “illegal trucking,” “below the water table aggregate extraction” or “road safety;” “hazardous infill,” “water safety,” or even; “potentially massive tax hikes,” the only thing standing between residents and any of the above so-called monsters will be our Council. We are at a crossroads and we’ve burned every single one of the bridges behind us so we have no choice but to move forward. But we do have a choice HOW we move forward and with whom. That means voting!

Another recent debate held at GoodLot this past Monday, saw every candidate in attendance state some version of the following: regardless of who you vote for, you MUST VOTE and please, bring two, three, or even four of your friends and family to do so too. Last election the voter turnout for Caledon was in the neighbourhood of 32%. Our future is far too important to be decided by such a small group of residents. Democracy only works when the people eligible to participate in it actually participate!

What happens when they don’t? To paraphrase well-known local resident Tony Svelka: When residents don’t vote decisions are made by a smaller group of people who may not reflect the broader community’s interests and may not support longer-term decisions around what gets protected and what gets approved. As well, candidates backed by well‑funded interests might win simply because fewer residents participated. Environmental protections are potentially weakened and finally, property rights and quality of life may be affected, because it is municipal by‑laws that directly shape how close industrial operations can be to homes, schools, parks, and rivers.

So, my final (fourth if you’re counting) birthday wish is that all of you, and your friends and family too, make your mark on a ballot either on October 26th or at any of the advance polls. Finally, did you know you can vote ANYWHERE in Caledon? I might have mentioned this before. Well, you can, so there is literally no excuse not to.

*From the Town of Caledon website: Caledon voters can cast their ballot at any voting place in the Town on Voting Day, October 26. Please bring identification when you go to vote that confirms your name and residence.