Candidates: A Cautious Welcome To Politics: CRERAR

The mayoral race in the upcoming municipal election will more likely be impacted by the number of candidates and name recognition than by the list of accomplishments of Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and Kitchissippi Councillor Jeff Leiper,

Both their lists are very short. But even with this baggage these two candidates are carrying, they remain the front-runners.

There’s always the possibility that these two candidates will split the total vote in such a way that a lane opens up and allows one of the lesser known candidates, such as Alex Lawson or Neil Saravanamutto, to slip through to victory. However, if additional serious candidates join the horse race for mayor, the likelihood of this outcome diminishes.

Sutcliffe is the feel-good candidate who never misses an opportunity to jump on the bandwagon of the latest worthwhile cause while Jeff “Flip Flop” Leiper can’t decide whether he wants to arrive at his next destination astride his faithful bicycle or holding onto the wheel of his family automobile.

And being a candidate, or the mayor for that matter, has its unpleasant parts such as in the video below:

Welcome to politics. Candidates: sure you want to do this?

There was a time when I was a departmental manager. Whenever an employee who reported to me announced he or she wanted to move on to another job, I always asked them “Are you running away from something you don’t like or are you running to something you feel passionate about?” I noted if the reason they wanted to leave was the former, they should wait until they found a job in which they could flourish otherwise they’d probably want to move along again in short order.

I would give similar advice to new candidates entering this year’s mayoral horse race. They have every right to identify the flaws with the well-known candidates and there are lots of examples to choose from. But they need a positive spin to attract voters and nothing beats a sound, affordable plan with an effective rollout.

Howard Crerar is a project manager and has worked in the software industry for three decades.

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