Getting Involved

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In the last municipal election in 2006, the voter turnout was abysmal - in the order of 25%. The margins of victory in many cases were in the low hundreds.

So the surest way to get elected is to mobilize the huge body of voters who didn't vote in the last municipal election.

If we are going to be well governed, we all need to be involved, either helping good people get elected or running ourselves. The next election is not until October 25th, 2010, but to create the right dynamics, we need to start now.

How to run

All candidates for office on a municipal council, school board or local board must be nominated before they can lawfully accept any campaign contributions or make or authorize any campaign expenditures.

Nominations may be filed with their local municipal clerk any time after January 4, 2010 up to 2pm on Nomination Day, which is Sept. 10.

Download the nomination form.

There is a nomination filing fee of $200 for the office of head of council, or $100 for any other office. This is refundable if the candidate

• is elected;
• receives more than two per cent of the votes cast for the office; or
• withdraws their nomination before nomination day.

After you have filed your nomination forms you can start accepting contributions. There are numerous rules which can be found here. The limit on contributions donated in money, goods or services from any individual, corporation or trade union is $750 to any one candidate.

There are also limits on how much you can spend:

• Head of municipal council - $7,500 plus $0.85 per eligible elector
• Member of municipal council or local board - $5,000 plus $0.85 per eligible elector

You can only be a candidate for one office at a time, but should you change your mind you can file a new nomination form which will nullify the previous one. Any money that you've raised is transferred to the new campaign. If you choose to withdraw, you must do so in writing.

All muncipal elections are local elections

All councillors in Durham Region are elected locally to their local councils. No one, not even the regional chair is elected in a region-wide vote.

One of the big problems in municipal elections is a lack of big issues that get people excited. Development is always an issue but the specifics are generally local. The one issue of the last three years which has generated the most regional activism has been the proposed garbage incinerator in Courtice, and this website and the questionnaire that preceded it were born out of that issue.

It's all about the environment

Before the incinerator, there was the greenbelt; and in individual municipalities there have been important issues such as the Big Pipe and the 'odour-control' facility in Pickering or the Ethanol plant in Oshawa next to the Second Marsh.

Intensification is an issue mandated by the province that affects every municipality but is largely below the radar. These, plus transit and greenfield development all have one thing in common. In one form or another they are all environmental issues. Our intention is to pull all of these issues together into a global sense of the impact that municipalities have on the environment and to elect people who will act accordingly.

Still interested?

If you are considering running, try the questionnaire that we sent to the councillors and let us know that did. Your answers (and those of the councillors will be only part of our evaluation. We will be looking for people who can Walk the Talk and be effective.

Can we Help?

It is too early to know what material assistance we may give to good candidates but certainly that is our desire. Our ability to do so will depend on donations and volunteer help.

Can you help?

Absolutely!

• Please read the postings and make your comments - the success of any website depends on traffic and postings generate traffic.
• Join one of our local committees - we need people to monitor the councillors and candidates in the local municipalities and to write letters to the editor highlighting the content of this website
• If you know anything about websites or are willing to learn the basics, we could use your help to make this site the GOTO place for candidate information for next year's election.

Give Doug Anderson a call at 905-668-5040 or email durhamgreen@gmail.com