Vote for Pedro

18% of voters turned out at Calgary's last election, compared with 65% at the last federal election. Why don't people care about municipal elections? I would argue that municipal representatives have a greater ability to impact our lives on a day-to-day basis and generally have to work harder than their higher profile counterparts at the provincial and federal levels. Yet, they get less respect and less money. This high-cost, low-reward combination inevitably makes it difficult to attract high quality candidates. In my view, this means it is even more important to vote at municipal elections.

In Calgary, the key rival for the incumbent mayor has been implicated in a range of unethical activities. The positive result of this might just be that people become compelled to take some time to learn about the candidates - including me.

On the eve of our civic election, I am finally taking the time to educate myself on the alternatives. www.bettercalgary.ca is a website developed by a non-partisan group of Calgarians dedicated to improving the city through encouraging debate and discussion on important issues. It was a helpful tool for me in this process.

If you live in Calgary and you've got the time and interest, I would encourage you to take a few minutes to learn about the candidates in your area and then get out and vote tomorrow.

p.s. The picture above is actually a campaign sign for the current election. Only in Bowness!