Who’s listening?

Who will represent us in 2014? In October, we will go back to the polls to choose the folks who will govern the County for the next four years. Who will look after our interests best? Who will spend our tax dollars wisely and respect the hard work by which they were earned? Who will fight for those without a voice?

But perhaps these are too hopeful a set of questions. After the past four years, perhaps all we can ask is for folks who will listen and act accordingly.

It is hard to staunch the cynicism. The last time County residents voted in a municipal election, they made a clear statement they wanted their representatives to do something about the size of council and the imbalance of representation that enables a voter in Ameliasburgh to be represented by three councillors, yet next door, Hillier residents manage with just a single voice on council.

But for most of this term, a majority of the elected members has ignored the wishes of the people as expressed in the last election. In a perverse twist of logic, these socalled representatives proclaim they speak for the silent majority who had not voted and had not answered the question on the ballot.

Voter turnout was less than 50 per cent in 2010, so they were free, according to their reasoning, to do what they pleased. And what pleased them most, was to pretend the problem didn’t exist. Worse, they pretended not to hear the voices of those who had sent them to Shire Hall in the first place.

As it turns out, a greater proportion of residents voted in favour of a review of size council than did for all three councillors in Ameliasburgh. Yet all three considered themselves legitimate. Fifty-eight percent of eligible Ameliasburgh voters didn’t vote in the last election. Who exactly is speaking for them?

So it was, that with just 41 per cent of voters showing up at the polls, the top three Ameliasburgh vote-getters took their seats on council. Forty one per cent was sufficient for them to assume the role of councillor—but it wasn’t enough for them actually hear what the voters were saying.

Finally last year, some councillors began to realize it might be an uneasy conversation at doorsteps in 2014 if they did nothing at all. So after considerable prodding, and with time running out, council at last allowed that a group of County residents could gather, consider the issue, and bring forth a recommendation about how to proceed.

Council, however, had final veto. It would cost $25,000, but at least they would be seen to have done something—even though many would be unmoved in their position had the Bay of Quinte suddenly parted and a bearded man strolled across the fish-hut littered basin and presented them with a recommendation hammered into a limestone tablet.

The actual recommendation, though not biblical, was nearly as compelling. The Citizens’ Assembly recommended 10 councillors by a wide majority. It made no difference. A block of councillors was not going to be moved. There was no argument, no rationale, and no reason persuasive enough to dislodge them from their calcified positions.

The two dozen folks who contributed to the Citizens’ Assembly received a disappointing lesson in how our local government works. They put their lives on hold, through three sunny summer Saturdays, to make an honest deliberation about a serious issue. They surely believed council took the process seriously—that their input would be considered.

They didn’t know until much later they had been wasting their time. A majority of council was never, ever going to listen to them.

Similarly, it will be difficult, ever again, to encourage folks to come out in Waupoos or other town halls to give their opinions on issues before council. It was a dark and dreary weekday night last fall when their councillor called them to the North Marsyburgh town. He said he wanted them to advise him on what to do with the Citizens’ Assembly recommendation. He wanted their opinion, he said. Most folks in the room believed he was genuinely seeking their opinion. A broad majority indicated they were in favour of reducing council to 10 members.

Yet when it came time for their councillor to vote—he chose to ignore the opinions he’d asked his constiuents to give him.

Add them to the list of folks who will not be taken in again by a politician claiming to seek their opinion.

This, of course, is an old story. Some will say it is time to move forward. To forget it. This is easier said than done.

The conscious decision to overtly ignore voters over and over again, poisons the representative process. It widens the gulf between the elected and the electorate. It reinforces the view that individuals are powerless to affect change—even in local government.

As a result, fewer participate. Incumbents aren’t challenged. Voter turnout declines further. The same folks get re-elected. Power concentrates into the hands of a few. Meanwhile, the average person pivots their energies to things they can change.

It is a downward spiral that collapses only when voters insist that our elected officials actually hear us when we speak.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca