The library hosted their all-candidates debate on Sunday. This is an event that has been running since the mid-80s. It is arranged and hosted by the Library staff and moderated by Dr. Wesley Cragg, Professor Emeritus, York University. Dr. Cragg has been moderating for a number of years, and does a very good job.
A special thanks to the Library staff for arranging such a well prepared event.
The first indication that this was going to be a special event, was the line up before the doors opened! Yes! On a perfectly good Sunday afternoon, residents of Aurora were lined up at Town hall, waiting for the doors to open. The Council Chambers were full, as were the rings of additional chairs on the outside hallway. It was standing room only!
I was very gratified to see so many people attending, many of whom were wearing Geoff Dawe for Mayor buttons. The attendance was a strong indicator that Aurorans are very interested in this election and were eager to take advantage of their first opportunity to hear all the candidates.
And, of course, the candidates were also there! Not just the 5 for Mayor, but 17 for Council and 2 for Public School Trustee.
It was a very full afternoon and I was appreciative, both for the opportunity to address the residents of Aurora and for the opportunity to listen and formulate my opinions on who I would like to cast my vote for Council. I too am a voter!
For those who were not able to make it (and, unfortunately, due to a scheduling conflict, Rogers TV was not able to tape it for re-broadcast), each candidate for Mayor spoke for 5 minutes, then the candidates for Council and Trustee each spoke for 3 minutes. That was followed by a question and answer session for the Mayoral Candidates.
Five minutes is not a lot of time to introduce yourself, and speak to what you would like to accomplish. A lot of work goes into preparing a speech in order to make sure that you are getting across the points you want to communicate. And, if the applause breaks were any indication, that work was well worthwhile, as it seemed that I was touching on issues that were important to many residents.
In case you missed the presentation, let me highlight some of the points I made about my intentions to bring back Accountability. If elected Mayor, I commit to:
- Re-establishing a year round Budget & Finance committee to enhance the long-term financial planning initiatives;
- Identifying opportunities for greater operating efficiencies to minimize taxes;
- Ensuring that we are realistically funding the Reserve Funds that are used to support planned expenditures, and find innovative ways to minimize the tax implications on residents.
If you managed to attend, I trust that you found it a worthwhile event. If not (or if you were deterred by the standing room only), then please remember that there are two more opportunities. October 13th at the Howard Johnson Hotel and October 17th at the Legion.