The Voters Are Angry, Not Sleeping: CHANGE THING

Here are notes on the city mayoral campaign from Bulldog editor Ken Gray as it progresses to the Oct. 26 voting day:

June 15, 2026: Mayor Mark Sutcliffe has failed at doing nothing. That’s a hard thing to do. You see at this point of election cycle, the last of four years, nothing is supposed to happen. Not like the first year when all the controversial stuff gets done and voters are aware … perplexed at what they’ve elected. Then for the next three years nothing is supposed to happen, especially in the last year. Voters eyes glaze over and they walk like zombies to the polls to vote for the incumbent. They awake for a moment when they realize there actually were other candidates than the mayor. Then they go back to sleep to vote for the incumbent. But Sutcliffe has been unable to do nothing. The trains broke down. The buses don’t show. Potholes are so deep that they look like a relief map of British Columbia but with deeper valleys. And then the traffic for half the city is stopped at Pinecrest Road and Highway 417 because somebody, equally glazed over, forget to make allowances for a sign … yes, a sign. They got a Lansdowne they didn’t want. The voters are not glazed over. They are angry about trains, buses, potholes, traffic and Lansdowne. Voters wonder exactly what they are paying for. An angry electorate does not bode well for the incumbent. That’s when the change thing kicks in.