Are Nanaimo’s Local Elections More Important Than America’s Got Talent?

 

Most Nanaimo residents probably cannot tell you what happened at the latest city council meeting.

Many, however, can tell you who advanced—or who was eliminated—on America’s Got Talent.

That may sound amusing, but as Nanaimo enters its civic election cycle on September 17, it raises a serious question: What deserves more of our attention—the television contestant chasing a prize or the candidates seeking control of our tax dollars?

There is nothing wrong with entertainment. People need a break from work, bills and the daily pressures of life. But the winner of a television talent show will have almost no effect on your household.

Your mayor and council certainly will.

They will influence how much you pay in property taxes and user fees. They will approve budgets, borrowing, staffing levels, major construction projects, development policies, policing priorities and decisions affecting public safety.

They will help determine what Nanaimo costs—and what kind of city it becomes.

The Decisions Continue—But the Public Is Missing

Over the past several years, Nanaimo taxpayers have watched taxes and user fees rise substantially. Council has approved major borrowing, expanded the municipal workforce and committed taxpayers to projects whose costs will continue long after the election signs are gone.

Yet council chambers usually have rows of empty seats.

This was not always the case. In the 1970s, a much smaller Nanaimo supported a genuine local newspaper published six days a week. The Free Press maintained three bureaus connected by teletype and employed approximately 53 full-time workers and at least 20 part-time employees.

People read the newspaper. They discussed local issues, wrote letters to the editor and participated in community affairs.

Today Nanaimo has a much larger population and a much larger municipal government—but no daily newspaper watching city hall.

Government Has More Resources—The Watchdog Has Fewer

Government has more employees, more money and more communications professionals to present its version of events. The independent local press has fewer people available to examine those claims, follow the money and preserve the public record.

Citizens now receive fragments of information through social media, short videos and headlines selected by computer algorithms. A controversy may generate outrage for a day and disappear before anyone studies the documents or follows the final vote.

City hall can say the information was publicly available. But placing hundreds of pages in an online council agenda is not the same as creating an informed public.

Entertainment companies work tirelessly to make sure you know when their programs air and who won. Citizens must work much harder to discover what their own government is doing.

That imbalance benefits those in power.

When citizens are not watching, elected officials face less pressure to control spending, explain borrowing or measure whether programs are delivering results. Public consultation can become an exercise involving the same small circle of participants, while the wider community learns about decisions after they have effectively been made.

Questions Every Candidate Should Answer

This election should be different.

Before voting, Nanaimo residents should ask every candidate:

• Do you support an independent Core Services Review?
• Will you support a genuine Taxpayer Affordability Study before approving further tax increases?
• What will you do to restore public safety?
• Which major projects do you support, and how will taxpayers pay for them?
• Will you reduce or postpone spending when residents can no longer afford the increases?

Those questions may not provide the sparkle of a television talent show. There will be no celebrity judges, dramatic music or golden buzzer.

But the result will affect your property taxes, your rent, your neighbourhood and your family for the next four years—and potentially much longer when council borrows money.

Which Result Really Matters?

So, are local elections more interesting than America’s Got Talent?

Perhaps not as entertainment.

But they are infinitely more important.

Democracy does not usually disappear in one dramatic moment. It slowly weakens when citizens stop watching, governments learn they can act without scrutiny, and elections become popularity contests instead of examinations of records and policies.

Nanaimo’s civic election cycle begins September 17. This time, turn some of that attention toward the people asking for authority over your city and your money.

If citizens will not pay attention to city hall, city hall will eventually stop paying attention to citizens.

PS. Perhaps they already have?