Just as council nominations opened last week, The Walrus published a piece on the state of municipal politics in Canada. The broad strokes? Mayors and councillors across the country are stepping down from their positions in record numbers. Intense workloads, high expectations, low salaries, and harassment all contribute to the increase in early departures.

In Ontario, more than 150 elected officials resigned from seats won in 2022, double the number in the previous term, according to data compiled by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.

“It used to be that if you wanted to say something nasty to a politician, you needed to go to their office or send them a letter or call them on the phone. Now you can send an anonymous Facebook message,” said Erin Tolley, the research chair in gender, race, and inclusive politics at Carleton University. “You can harass them directly in their pockets.”

Predictably, after Mayor Steve Ferguson announced he would not be seeking re-election for a third term, the County Chorus chimed in.

“Good!”

“Finally!”

“About Time.”

“They really need to get rid of him.”

“Thank God our illustrious Mayor is stepping down. Great news for PEC.”

“Good riddance to bad rubbish.”

“He’s a damn idiot.”

“Congratulations on that well-deserved rumoured seat on the board at Base 31, Steve. Perfect fit.”

Those were the polite ones. And just in case you were wondering, the Gazette confirmed there is no board at Base31, despite whatever this safely anonymous troll was regurgitating on Facebook.

For years, the County Caterwaulers have gone on and on about the state of Highway 49 as though Mayor Steve Ferguson were personally responsible for every crack. Every pothole. All they had to write often enough was a single word, “roads,” to undermine every and any new initiative from Shire Hall. A key part of the mayor’s agenda in his second term was securing the $50 million required to get it fixed. 

Once that was accomplished, did the County Chorus quit its complaining and congratulate this signal accomplishment?

Of course not. It just shifted gears.

“Building more housing for the elite…the transplants.”

“Here’s hoping there are some dedicated County residents who will step forward for this year’s election soon & provide some much needed sober second thought because the bottomless pit called the Wellington Water Project & the fiscal sinkhole called the Prince Edward County Affordable Housing Corporation have become fiscal monsters that need to be tamed.”

Yes, you read that right. While complaining about the lack of, not just affordable housing, but rental apartments, the County Chorus attacks any municipal initiative designed to address these problems, from the waterworks infrastructure to support new housing development to the affordable housing corporation.

Most interesting to me is how high on the horse
some of my island brothers and sisters are
when it comes to the birthright wisdom that comes,
apparently,
of a deep-rooted Prince Edward County family tree.

I would wager that less than one percent of those cheering Steve Ferguson’s departure have lasted one full council meeting — some wind up under 3 hours, but not very many — let alone the 200 or so that fill a four-year term. That figure only includes Council and Committee of the Whole meetings. Closed sessions add an extra hour-long bonus period to Council. There are, in addition, monthly Planning and Development meetings. Public Information Sessions. Subcommittees. Special Council Meetings. The annual ROMA meeting and the AMO conference. And endless public appearances, evenings, weekends, Christmas and New Year.

About 150 pieces of correspondence turn up at the Mayor’s office per day. To do the job right, all must be answered. The day-to-day toil is long, much of it unseen, unrecognized, unsung.

There are easier ways, ones that come with far less in the way of public defamation, to earn $59k a year.

Social media harassment is a serious societal scourge. At the Gazette, we can’t believe it’s legal to publicly defame anybody, even an elected official, on a global digital platform without some kind of evidence.

At a newspaper, you cannot attack somebody, or even something, without clear grounds. Facts. Interviews. Freedom of Information requests that require months of patience. A call to the offending party to hear their side of the story. And a call to the lawyer to be sure you are on firm ground.

According to the Department of Justice, libel is “a written or permanent defamatory statement that harms a person’s or organization’s reputation by exposing them to hatred, contempt, or ridicule.”

But all those gutter snipes on social media profiles can rest easy and fire away. Consequences are unlikely — unless they come from an uneasy conscience. Proving libel, which means not just proving some nasty statement was a lie, but proving defamation, meaning the libel has in fact harmed somebody’s, or some organization’s, reputation, is a tall test. 

Most interesting to me is how high on the horse some of my island brothers and sisters are when it comes to the birthright wisdom that comes, apparently, of a deep-rooted Prince Edward County family tree.

“Time for somebody local to run.”

Those who call for “dedicated County residents” or “real locals” to run for office seem to believe only someone with a long lineage in Glenwood is capable of governing a $100 million corporation properly.

They would be shocked to learn the County’s first mayor, Jim Taylor, came into this world in Timmins.

Or that Leo Finnegan grew up in Montreal.

Peter Mertens arrived in the County after a career that concluded with a senior posting at Maple Leaf Foods in Toronto.

For whatever it’s worth—and this corner says not much—only Robert Quaiff can so far lay claim to being both a Mayor as well as born-and-bred local. Mr. Quaiff did an admirable job. But you can say the same about Mr. Taylor, who navigated the newly amalgamated municipality with aplomb.

And who among us that watched Leo run the shop could ever doubt his dedication? Would you have robbed him of his opportunity if you’d known at the time that he wasn’t “local” — a euphemism, of course, for some sort of imaginary bloodline. I assume when he was defending the continuation of our hospital with every fibre of his being, he was “local” enough.

“Good news!!! Hoping a local will run.”

A local will run. A local might very well be elected the next Mayor. But is that the only reason to cast a vote in a candidate’s favour?

Citizens deserve the best candidates. Period. Serving on municipal council requires diplomacy, tact, patience, forethought, and, clearly, an impenetrable outer layer.

If they are serious, voters shouldn’t be concerned if someone has been in PEC for five months or five generations. It is the person, their character, and their credentials, not where they come from, that counts.

I suspect it’s this fact, in the end, that drives the characterless caterwauling of our shameful County Chorus.