Daphne Bramham: If you want a change, you better vote

.

Metro Vancouver voters are a disappointed and disheartened bunch, something that will almost certainly be reflected when the civic election results come in later tonight.

.

And it may be a long night if a strong desire for change results in high voter turnout and ultimately reverses a long-standing downward trend.

.

About 60 percent of voters in Metro Vancouver want change. But nowhere is the desire for change more entrenched than in Vancouver and Surrey, according to Leger’s survey for Postmedia.

Three quarters of those surveyed in Surrey want change. In Vancouver, it’s 69 percent.

Digging deeper, the pollster found that the majority in both cities believe they are worse off than they were four years ago. They are deeply dissatisfied with mayors and councils and with all aspects of urban life.

While housing affordability is the main issue, it’s far from the only one.

The majority in both cities believe that their municipal governments have not complied with the essentials, that the services they receive do not justify the taxes they pay.

.

Responses to poverty, mental health issues, public safety, the pace of development, traffic, garbage, roads, sidewalks, waste management, and even parks and recreation garnered such negative responses that Leger described the results as critically low.

Change is a reason to vote, which is why the traditional political wisdom is that governments are just as likely to defeat themselves as they are to be defeated by the competition.

The overwhelming desire for change among Leger respondents also helps explain why 70 percent said they were sure or very likely to vote.

It would be an extraordinary change from 2018, when fewer than 40 percent of those eligible in the two cities voted. But it’s a prediction that should come with a couple of caveats.

.

First, those respondents are part of Leger’s panel, meaning they are already more engaged than the average voter.

Second, about 40 percent of highly engaged respondents were unsure who they would vote for, meaning Leger was reluctant to predict who would win the two highly contested mayoral races.

In the poll, Ken Sim had a 20-point lead over incumbent Kennedy Stewart and Colleen Hardwick. In Surrey, Brenda Locke was the choice of 25 per cent of those decided, more than twice that of Sukh Dhaliwal and Gordie Hogg and more than triple the support for incumbent Doug McCallum.

But will the less committed undecided vote? Perhaps not, since voting in a civic election is much more difficult than in federal and provincial elections. As opposed to choosing one person from a single list in those elections, there are 137 names on the Vancouver ballot and 84 on the Surrey ballot.

.

Surrey voters can elect one person for mayor, up to eight for council and up to six school administrators.

Vancouver voters can elect one for mayor, up to 10 for alderman, up to nine for school board trustee and seven for park board commissioner. To further complicate matters, the Vancouver candidates are not listed alphabetically. In fairness to those closer to Z than A, it was decided that they should be listed in a confusing order drawn by lottery.

With so many options, less-engaged citizens may find it too difficult to vote and stay home.

So why vote in Surrey, Vancouver or any other municipality?

The simplistic answer is because you can. This is not something to be taken lightly in these days when autocracies may soon outnumber democracies and when it took so long for so many people – women, indigenous and Asian – to gain the right to vote.

.

If that’s too esoteric, vote for self-interest.

Is the city you see now the city you want tomorrow? If so, vote for the incumbents and anyone whose views align with theirs.

If the city doesn’t reflect what you want now or in the future, do some research to find out which views of the parties and candidates align with yours. Both from Surrey Y vancouver The websites have information on each candidate’s background, priorities, political priorities, and links to their financial statements.

But choose carefully because whoever is chosen will be there for four years.

They will be making decisions that will fundamentally affect your life.

They will be paid even if charged with a criminal offense because neither the Vancouver Charter nor City Law provides for the removal of elected officials.

.

Partly in response to Rob Vagramov’s refusal to step aside in 2019 when he was accused of sexual assault early in his first term as mayor of Coquitlam, the British Columbia government made it mandatory for anyone criminally charged to take a license. pay until charges are settled.

Made in April, that change was not retroactive and came after current Surrey Mayor McCallum was accused of wrongdoing. His five-day criminal trial is scheduled for October 31.

Finally, it is important to remember that it is not mandatory to vote for all positions. It is perfectly fine to vote for only one candidate and return the ballot to be counted.

Every vote matters.

Just ask Mandeep Nagra, who was elected to Surrey council in 2018 by a margin of 261 votes, or Sim, who lost the Vancouver mayoral race by 957 votes, or current West Vancouver Mayor Mary Ann Booth, which he won by 21 votes.

Better yet, talk to the mayors of Bowen Island, Peachland and Clinton whose margin of victory was one or two votes.

[email protected]

More news, less ads: Our in-depth journalism is possible thanks to the support of our subscribers. For just $3.50 a week, you can get unlimited, ad-lite access to The Vancouver Sun, The Province, National Post, and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Vancouver Sun | The province.