General Politics Discussion

[cherrypark]

Vote for the best candidate to represent Kit-Cen at Queen's Park and worry about vacating the council seats we don't like when that comes around again.

The idea that an NDP back bencher like Chapman has any material influence over a Ford majority gov compared to a Green MPP confuses me too. I would argue a more semi-independent MPP is going to have an outsized chance to make Kitchener's voice heard than Chapman as part of a powerless minority chorus.

I'm not sure if this was in reference to what I said, but that wasn't my point.

Chapmans NIMBYism record has already been pointed out by the other parties. If she wins the NDP learns they can run an anti-housing candidate and win. This is of course wrong, and anti-housing stances are going to play very badly with young people (i.e., the people the NDP, Green, and Liberals NEED to motivate to vote to win). If they instead learn that fielding an anti-housing candidate is a losing strategy, maybe they become marginally more careful in picking candidates in the future.

No, just a general comment on dialogue about the Greens being somehow powerless relative to the NDP. If anything, your statement is why my vote for Clancy was an easy decision.

[danbrotherston]

I'm not sure if this was in reference to what I said, but that wasn't my point.

Chapmans NIMBYism record has already been pointed out by the other parties. If she wins the NDP learns they can run an anti-housing candidate and win. This is of course wrong, and anti-housing stances are going to play very badly with young people (i.e., the people the NDP, Green, and Liberals NEED to motivate to vote to win). If they instead learn that fielding an anti-housing candidate is a losing strategy, maybe they become marginally more careful in picking candidates in the future.

No, just a general comment on dialogue about the Greens being somehow powerless relative to the NDP. If anything, your statement is why my vote for Clancy was an easy decision.

Ahh fair enough...I wasn't sure, my bad.

And yeah, I do agree with your point as well, I think the green party does an outsized amount of work given their relatively low number of seats. Heck, I remember the first time a green party MP was elected...very exciting times.

OTOH Their influence is perhaps more in line with their actual popular support broadly in the public, which even with our broken electoral system can hit 5%.

[ac3r]

The Washington Post described the Green Party best as the junk drawer of Canadian politics, full of fringe crackpots so anything they manage to do besides self-sabotage is usually quite exciting.

[danbrotherston]

Well, the Netherlands has given the most seats to a far-right explicitly anti-immigrant party in it's election yesterday.

So that's fun.

https://www.dutchnews.nl/2023/11/far-rig...5-support/

Given the country has a modern well functioning representative democracy this doesn't mean all that much...the party has 25% of the seats and will need a broad coalition to even form a government. Wilders might be able to form it, the centre-right party has gone back and forth on whether they would work with the far-right party or not, so we'll see. Last time it took 9 months to form a government. But even if Wilders does form a government, he will only be a part of the coalition.

Still, a worrying direction.

[ac3r]

Wilders has been beating that horse his entire career so him making the news again is hardly worrying. Like most populist European conservatives, Wilders/PVV have their modest base but that's about it because they sit a bit too far right even for the majority of Dutch citizens who are already a fairly conservative people in a fairly conservative nation...but most stay in the centre lane, usually. For Wilders it isn't even really immigration he cares about, it's Islam but that's not something most Dutch are worried about right now though I'm sure he'll try to capitalize on it thanks to the war going on in Palestine.

More impressive to me is that he's still rocking that weird hairdo in 2023. There must be something genetic to explain why right wing populist politicians prefer to have an unhinged hair style.

[plam]

Well, the Netherlands has given the most seats to a far-right explicitly anti-immigrant party in it's election yesterday.

So that's fun.

https://www.dutchnews.nl/2023/11/far-rig...5-support/

Given the country has a modern well functioning representative democracy this doesn't mean all that much...the party has 25% of the seats and will need a broad coalition to even form a government. Wilders might be able to form it, the centre-right party has gone back and forth on whether they would work with the far-right party or not, so we'll see. Last time it took 9 months to form a government. But even if Wilders does form a government, he will only be a part of the coalition.

Still, a worrying direction.

People in NZ complained about the 20 days it took here...

[panamaniac]

So, a blowout for the Greens.

[KevinL]

Indeed, Aislinn seemed the clear leader based on lawn signs alone. I think the Mike Morrice connection was the clincher.

[nms]

Winning 47.99% of the vote is getting close to the same margins that Catherine Fife has achieved in Waterloo in the past.

[Chris]

Looking forward to what's next for Ward 10.

Stephanie Stretch finished just behind Aislinn last October with third place way off. Are we close enough to the vote that Barry would offer the vacant spot to Stephanie? I would be fine with that, I have voter fatigue. If she turns it down I would go to an election.

Maybe Barry just goes straight for an election, who knows. If we go to an election and Stephanie doesn't run my early favourite would be Brooklin, if she throws her hat in the ring. Maybe Simon Guthrie takes aim too.

Clancy - 1765
Stretch - 1650
Davis - 513

[cherrypark]

Completely ignorant of city policy: is it up to Berry to decide how to fill it?

[Chris]

Completely ignorant of city policy: is it up to Berry to decide how to fill it?

I think the whole council decides how to fill it, it's not solely up to Barry so I'd guess it's a vote after a short dicussion? But I don't know the exact details, I never found a policy on the city site when I did a quick search.


Found this from a CBC article posted in May 2023.

What happens if a councillor wins?

If a councillor wins the byelection, they have to step down from their council seat. Under Ontario's Municipal Act, they can't hold both seats at the same time.

Fusco says she would bring a report to council and council would declare the seat vacant.

Then one of two things would happen:

• Council would appoint someone to the seat.
  
• A byelection would be held.
  

Fusco says the city has done both in the past when councillors have left their posts.

[dtkmelissa]

"The vacant seat can be filled in several ways, including through a by-election or by appointment. The City Clerk will bring a report to Council at our next meeting following any resignation to declare the office vacant and Council will discuss next steps in January 2024." https://www.kitchener.ca/en/news/stateme...ction.aspx

[panamaniac]

Given the amount of time remaining until the next municipal election (October 2026), they'll certainly call a byelection, no?

[plam]

Given the amount of time remaining until the next municipal election (October 2026), they'll certainly call a byelection, no?

Well, conversely, that means it was close to the previous municipal election and maybe the results aren't quite as stale yet.