When I ran for City Council in 2006, there were only a couple of serious, legitimate candidates who were under 35. This time, there are nine of us (there might be one or two others of whom we are not yet aware, as not all council candidates have submitted information to the Standard).
Over the last several years (whether during the 2006 campaign or at other times), I've heard people say that we are unable to retain the youth of St. Catharines, or attrach new youth to St. Catharines, because they are disengaged or they don't care about the City.
Clearly, with nine of 31 candidates running for Council being 35 or under, the youth of St. Catharines do care. They are engaged.
With the current average age of a City Councillor being 49 and given their role in making decisions that will impact everyone, including young families, over the long-term, it is imperative that we have a role in that decision-making. There needs to be more balance in age demographics at the Council table.
While we are all clear that we are not endorsing each other, we are equally clear that younger voices need to be heard in making decisions for the City.
Clearly there is a movement afoot...
~~~~~
Here is the link to Marlene Bergsma's article that appeared on the St. Catharines Standard website on Saturday, September 11, 2010: http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2754497, and I've also pasted the content of the article below:
Youthful candidates say St. Catharines ready for change
Posted By Marlene Bergsma
The largest slate of youthful candidates in recent municipal history has young wannabe councillors saying St. Catharines is poised for change.
Eight of the 31 candidates vying for 12 council seats, plus mayoral candidate David D'Intino, are 35 years old or less – an unprecedented number, said St. George's ward candidate Laura Ip.
Ip said she checked back through candidate profiles from previous elections and discovered this is one of the largest slates of under-35s ever to seek municipal office.
But city voters have no problem with choosing youth over experience, said St. Andrew's ward candidate Sean Polden, who organized a Saturday afternoon press conference with Ip.
St. Catharines MP Rick Dykstra and St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley were both in their 20s when they began their political careers as St. Catharines councillors, said Polden. Even St. Catharines' oldest and longest-serving councillor, St. Andrew's representative Joe Kushner, was 35 when he was first elected in 1976, Polden said.
Eight of the nine under-35s were at the Saturday gathering. Only mayoral candidate David D'Intino, a student at the University of Ottawa, was absent.
The candidates said they are not endorsing each other's campaigns or running as a block, but called attention to their ages because they think it's a sign the city is attracting energy and youthful enthusiasm to its leadership.
Several of them spoke about their reasons for seeking office and their desire to make St. Catharines the kind of city where there are jobs and opportunities for young people. Their suggestions ranged from improving the downtown, reducing the industrial tax rate (Alan Ziemianin), factoring in the job creation power of local bidders on city contracts (Polden), supporting regional transit and GO transit (David Haywood), establishing a poverty round table (Robert George) and encouraging more community involvement (Cameron Alderdice).
Ip said the average age of currently serving councillors is 49, but she and Port Dalhousie candidate Marty Mako both said it's the young people of the city who have the most at stake in the local economy.
Ip said the high level of youthful involvement in the election demonstrates that young people are not apathetic about the future.
"We do care, we are interested, and we want to be involved in the decisions that are being made, that will affect us and our families for a long time," she said.
Port Dalhousie candidate Marty Mako agreed.
"We are the ones who are going to be living and working here for another 30 years, so it makes sense that we are ones going to be making the decisions," he said. "Young people do want to be involved in civic affairs."
The young candidates are tech savvy and are using the internet and social media as part of their campaigns. On Saturday afternoon they compared notes on their websites and Facebook pages.
Ip, who also ran in 2006, said very few candidates had websites then, and no one was using Facebook. On Saturday, only Alderdice said he didn't have a website.
---------
The youthful contenders
One quarter of the candidates seeking a St. Catharines city council seat are under 35 years old. They are:
- Cameron Alderdice, Merritton, 20
- Robert George, St. Patrick's, 35
- David Haywood, Merritton, 31
- Laura Ip, St. George's, 34
- Marty Mako, Port Dalhousie, 34
- Sean Polden, St. Andrew's, 31
- Mathew Siscoe, St. Patrick's, 30
- Alan Ziemianin, Grantham, 29
No comments:
Post a Comment