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Caledon Citizen https://caledoncitizen.com/mayor-marolyn-morrison-caledon-needs-people-who-are-interested-in-building-communities/ Export date: Sat Jul 20 2:17:34 2024 / +0000 GMT |
Mayor Marolyn Morrison — Caledon needs people who are interested in building communitiesOntario voters are occasionally known, somewhat notoriously, for voting a politician or political party “out of office,” as opposed to voting a better candidate or party of candidates “into” office. Dissatisfaction with the status quo results in a widespread desire for change and that is often what drives election results at every level of government. The perceived need for change also motivates individuals in a community to stand for public office. The idea that they can “do better” than the incumbent by getting a long ignored sidewalk repaired, or advocating for recreational programs for young families at their local community centre is frequently at the heart of a future politician's motivation to run for office. Change is definitely not a bad thing. At a community level, it drives innovation. It increases productivity, boosts prosperity and is often the catalyst for significant, positive shifts in a community's development. In my experience, change has more positive benefits than negative. In determining whether change is either “good” or “bad,” I look at the underlying motivation — is the platform of an up-and-coming councillor one that “builds communities” or is it fundamentally negative, tearing down a community in pursuit of selfish political gain — a need for perceived power, personal influence or financial gain. The best politicians I have worked with are not “one trick ponies.” They have a big picture view of their neighbourhoods and how they fit into and, more importantly, contribute to the betterment of the entire community. Good councillors see community building as a fundamental role of council. However, it is easy to produce a false demand for change in a community. Pick a single, controversial issue, make it your own personal battle and offer outrageous and misleading claims about how the current political representative has ignored the residents. All too often, “one issue” political candidates do not have practical answers, meaningful solutions or workable plans to deal with the contentious matter they've latched on to — they simply implore voters to “kick out” the incumbent because “change” is obviously necessary and we have to “stop” the problem from continuing. They don't have the necessary background information to make informed, intelligent statements on the subject, so they rely on conjecture, anecdotes, hearsay and sometimes just plain lies to get their point across. Caledon voters are clever and they see through such grandstanding and political posturing and realize these “one issue” candidates are not community builders but quite the opposite — they can “devastate” a community. I have often referred to Caledon's proud agricultural heritage and traditions and because of them we are one of Canada's most envied communities. We have a flourishing local economy, unparalleled natural beauty and we hold dear the rural values that were, and still are, the foundation of our great Town. The settlers who founded Caledon were true community builders; they knew working together to create a better community would result in prosperity and success for all who lived here. We must never forget this history because the loss of Caledon's resilixent sense of community will be the beginning of our Town's decline. 
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Post date: 2013-11-03 14:20:04 Post date GMT: 2013-11-03 19:20:04 Post modified date: 2013-11-03 14:22:38 Post modified date GMT: 2013-11-03 19:22:38 |
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