b.jpg)
Municipal elections are soon to take place. As city and rural Portagers have put their names into the hat for a political seat, and others are deciding who to vote for, many never vote or concern themselves over these elections. For a large part, people are not aware of what is affected by their municipal election votes. What difference does it make?
Portage la Prairie Mayor Irvine Ferris shares how your vote can make changes and what sort of changes they affect.
"This is the level of government that's closest to the people, so people that are elected to city council will certainly make decisions around everything from utility to police Fire Protection, what the shape your roads are going to be, what kind of recreational service you'll have, what the tax rate will be, and whether your community progresses or goes backwards," explains Ferris. "There's a lot of important work that goes on, and I think it's really important that people take an interest. If you live in Portage la Prairie, the outcome of the election will have an effect on you."
He notes this makes it vital that you have a say in what takes place here.
"It's important to be somewhat current on what's going on," continues Ferris. "The other election is happening at the same time as the election for school trustees for the school board. The school board manages a huge budget about the same size as the city of Portage. They set policy, make sure the resources are in place to ensure that students in Portage have access to a good education. And I think that's really, really important work that those folks do."
He explains that it's often a smaller group of voters in municipal elections, which means that your vote quite often makes a greater difference.
"A lot of times, elections are very, very close vote count-wise," continues Ferris. "It's a case where your vote really could make a difference in the outcome of who gets elected."
Ferris recalls a time when a major outcome took place following a vote to show just how much a certain elected individual can impact the community in a great way.
"If I go back 16 years ago, that election was really fought on whether to build a sportsplex or not to build a sportsplex," adds Ferris. "The people that got elected as mayor and council at that time were for building a sportsplex, and that was done in the following four years. People talk about what they would like to do on their platforms, and quite often those things happen in the following four years. It's important for people to know what the candidates are promoting and if they agree with them."
He explains another major change occurred in Portage after an election.
"In the early to mid-60s, and for a number of years, Mayor Henderson had lobbied all levels of government -- the province, federally -- and explaining why an overpass was so critical to our city," notes Ferris. "It was critical because the mainland CPR CNR went right through the middle of our city."
Ferris says this meant that the Fire Hall and Police Station, which were on the south side of the railway tracks, were unable to reach emergency situations in the north end when blocked by trains. No help could arrive to those across the tracks.
"He successfully lobbied for a number of years to get the overpass built and it made a big difference to our community," adds Ferris. "Who we elect is really important."
He explains that it's easy to vote, there will be locations where people you can go and there are about 12 hours in which you will be able to vote.
"There will also be mail-in ballots," notes Ferris. "There will be advance polling. There will be more details coming out, so there are a number of different ways to vote. They try to make it as easy for us as they can. And I think it's really important, seeing as we live in a democracy, that we should make sure we exercise that franchise and we don't lose that democratic part of it just through apathy and not being involved."
Ferris adds the people who vote the most faithfully and go out of their way to do so, are the veterans. He says these people have been in areas of the world where there is no democracy, and they know what a country can become without the right to vote.