Last Minute Election Guide 2014

Posted on 15 November 2014

Yes, that’s today. If you are in B.C. you will be electing a new mayor and a new council for the next four years, up from the previous three. In Prince George, we’ll also be holding a non-binding referendum on whether to continue putting fluoride in our water as we have for the last 59 years, or remove it.
I’ve been flogging this pretty hard, but here’s one last round-up of some of the resources available.
Who Do I Vote For?

I did a write-up of the mayor’s race where I tried to suss out differences between candidates, It’s called Hall vs Zurowski: A Matter of Style?
I also sent out a questionnaire to local candidates asking about bike paths, parks, dogs, and music. You can read the answers here: Answers From the Candidates
And, using the information provided by the city, I made a map of where the candidates live. Almost no-one north of the Nechako, three outside city limits.You may or may not find it interesting.
CBC hosted a mayor’s debate early on in the race, which you can watch on YouTube (bonus: you can skip to certain times to get to specific issue). In the last week of the race, we also had in-depth interviews with each candidate, which you can listen to here.

And if that’s not enough lots of other media coverage for the election, too:

How do I feel about fluoride?
I don’t know how you feel about fluoride. I did do a story on the history of the fluoride debate, which has been going on for a long time and at one point involved Communists. You can listen to it here and read more about it here.
Interestingly enough, both the Globe and Mail and the FiveThirtyEight (a new statistics-based news site led by the guy who accurately predicted the presidential elections early on using, well, statistics) did write-ups on fluoride this week, as well. The conclusion, in both cases, was there might be some room for new research but the bulk of evidence is fluoride is a low-cost way to improve public health, and most of what you hear about it being unsafe is based on weak data, a bad understanding of science, or both.
Here is an interview with the “keep fluoride” side. They are represented by the Chief Medical Officer for Northern Health, the Chief Dental Officer with Health Canada, and the manager of dental health programs for Northern Health.
Here is an interview with the “remove fluoride” side. They are represented by the owner of a health foods, vitamins, and book store.
How Do I Vote?
You don’t need to pre-register. You just show up with a few things to identify you. What you need are two things that will prove who you are and that you live in Prince George. Here is the full list. If you don’t have two things, you can make a solemn declaration. Doesn’t that sound fun? A solemn declaration.
Where Do I Vote?
There is free transit in Prince George to help you get to voting stations. You can vote from 8 am to 8 pm at the following places:

Blackburn Community Centre
DP Todd Secondary School
Edgewood Elementary School
John McInnis Centre
Kelly Road Secondary School
Malaspina Elementary School
Ron Brent Elementary School
Vanway Elementary School

Why Should I Vote?
Four years is a pretty long time, in politics. The people who come into power will make decisions about how much money we spend on roads, bike lanes, which parks get maintained, whether you will have to pay for a dangerous dog based on breed, whether and how much you’ll have to pay to park downtown, what happens with snow removal, how many new subdivisions we build and where, whether we spend money on a Performing Arts Centre or hockey arenas or something else or nothing at all. They’ll be the face of the city on a national and international stage. You don’t notice it, probably, but they affect a lot.
I’ll leave you with a Facebook status from a friend of mine:

“Dear Canadian friends! At this very moment, half of the world are fighting to death just to achieve the right of voting. You have it for granted, please move your butt and use it! Even if none of the available options ‘exactly’ represents you.
“Sincerely,
“An immigrant!”

Filed under: Prince George