9 Comments

Thank you, Melissa! You mirror my thoughts about the candidates I followed. I am puzzled by Wilmot Township results. Your comments and information throughout were very helpful.

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Hi Melissa,

Great summary!!

I worked one of the Kitchener polls as a DRO and followed this election closely. Disappointment in the voter turnout (20.26% ugh) seems to be an insufficient word. There’s a lot to care about in Kitchener and the region. I hope the low voter turnout is being looked at closely and some crucial solutions for voter education and engagement are in play four years down the line!

Thrilled in particular for the elections of Colleen James, Meena Waseem, Aislinn Clancy and Ayo Owodunni. Matt Rodrigues had our votes and I truly hope he considers running again next term.

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You summed up all of my feelings in a succinct comment :)

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Perhaps the Wilmot results reflect the fact that the previous council were out of touch with public opinion on such issues as being sympathetic to Indigenous vandalism and removal of the historically significant PMP? What is called these days being "woke." I for one found the results very democratic! I agree most of the rest of your assessment Melissa.

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Thanks for reading, Harold. I don't disagree that the results of this (or any of our) local elections were 'democratic' (as much as a voter turnout in the low 20s can be, anyway). I was disappointed because I thought Jenn, Cheryl, and Angie sought out perspectives that we don't always hear in public engagement. I hope the newly elected councillors also actively seek engagement from those too-often neglected voices as well.

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As well. In my opinion "the too-often neglected voices" are the only ones being heard today! When did anyone other than an Indigenous Activists get quoted in the media on the Victoria Monument or Willow Lake? I feel like I'm a a voice crying in the wildness!

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I don't think anyone who sincerely cares about these matters is in anything like a wilderness. We're not wrong, Harold, nor at loggerheads with anyone sincerely working towards truth and reconciliation for he great historical wrongs that are woven in the the very fabric of North American life. It's that these simplistic yes vs. no, us vs. them, tweedle dee vs. tweedle dum ways of framing infinitely complex issues make it almost impossible to engage in any kind of meaningful or productive discussion of what the best possible result might be. Here and in Wilmot, what we're talking about here is the very nature and existence of Canada as a modern nation state and our place in it.

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Thanks, Martin.

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Great summary!

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