School board trustee candidates are in a tricky position. They are the locally elected guardians of the education system – but much of what they do involves carrying out instructions from Queen’s Park.

As education becomes more centralized, trustees must still fill a number of roles. They are expected to ensure that the budgets — $500 million for the Waterloo public board and $240 million for the Waterloo Catholic board — are spent according to the rules set down by the provincial government.

Unlike city councils, school boards can’t raise taxes locally. Despite those large budgets, trustees have little flexibility in where and how the money is spent.

Trustees can decide when and where to build new schools and whether to close older ones. They decide school boundaries and transportation rules. They can’t decide how many students should be in a classroom, what curriculum should be taught, or how much teachers should be paid.

Local school boards are also unable to “opt out” of such provincially mandated programs as all-day, every-day kindergarten, or testing of students’ math literacy skills at Grade 3, 6, and in high school.

Trustees are also needed to ensure that students and parents are being treated well and have their needs met at schools.

They are expected to have less involvement in the day-to-day running of schools, but can establish broad policies on everything from transportation to bullying. They must make sure these policies are followed properly by the board administrators.

Trustees are also expected to advocate for local education when necessary, for example if a decision from the Ministry of Education causes problems for the local community.

The Waterloo Region District School Board has 61,000 students in elementary and high schools, and the Catholic board has 22,800. School boards also run adult and continuing education programs.

See online bios here.

WATERLOO REGION — They spend more than an entire Canadian province, keep the police paid and have the power to make your garbage disappear from the curb.

They are Waterloo Region’s municipalities. Three cities, one regional government and four rural townships that will, collectively, spend more than $1.8-billion this year.

Add the three local hydro companies they own and that figure balloons to almost $2.24 billion — dwarfing the provincial budget of Prince Edward Island, which will spend about $1.5 billion this year.

On Oct. 25, voters have the chance to pick who will call the shots on the councils that govern a region with a population of 534,900.

But how many of us really understand what municipalities do, and the impact they can have on our daily lives? Given an average regional turnout of about one in four voters in the last municipal election, you might think not many.

“I think people misunderstand the importance of municipal politics,” said David Docherty, a professor of political science at Wilfrid Laurier University.

“We tend to concentrate too much on who gets the pot holes fixed. We reduce municipal politics to that lowest common denominator, and not concentrate as much on the more important things that municipalities do and where property taxes go.”

The average residential tax bill in Waterloo Region is $2,950 — half of which goes to the regional government, 31 per cent to the taxpayer’s local municipality, and more than 18 per cent to local school boards.

But the regional government often gets the least amount of attention — somewhat surprising, considering it collects $367.6 million in property taxes, and spends more than $1.1 billion a year when you add in provincial grants and transfers, development charges, fees and other revenues.

That makes it by far the biggest spender among Waterloo Region’s municipalities, responsible for everything from paying police salaries and keeping the transit buses running, to operating social housing and the local airport.

The region’s cities and townships focus on quality-of-life issues, such as building parks and sports fields, running farmers’ markets and festivals, and maintaining local roads.

They also operate fire departments and recreation centres, build sidewalks and libraries, enforce bylaws and sell hydro to consumers.

“All of these things are critically important to people’s day-to-day lives, but people tend to only think of them when they go wrong,” Docherty said.

Given the role municipalities have in so much of our daily lives, why do so few voters bother to have a say in who makes those local decisions?

Waterloo Region voters are among the most apathetic in the province. An average of less than 27 per cent of eligible voters bothered to cast a ballot in the last municipal election — well shy of the provincial average of 38 per cent.

Compare that with the 65 per cent who participated in the last federal election.

“They just don’t seem to be inclined to believe it matters,” said Bob Williams, a retired professor of political science from the University of Waterloo. “For a lot of people, they just decide that this is something they don’t want to learn about or have taken the view it’s very difficult to learn about.”

Citizens may feel it’s harder to learn about candidates because there is no party system at the local level, meaning they can’t fall back on their party preference, he said. And smaller campaign budgets mean advertising is sparse and often limited to signs and door knocking.

Unlike federal or provincial elections, there is no agency at the municipal level that promotes voting and elections. Some cities are taking matters into their own hands.

Cambridge sponsored a get-the-youth-vote-out video contest. Two other communities that had abysmal turnouts in the last election, Ajax and Vaughan, went so far as to produce their own videos encouraging residents to vote.

They’re spreading the clips on Facebook and Twitter, and in Vaughan’s case, the videos are being shown at the beginning of films at local movie theatres.

Another problem — misinformed as it may be — could be that voters don’t think it matters who represents them on their municipal councils, Williams said, given that provincial regulations control a lot of what cities can do.

Municipalities could also make it easier for residents to vote, with more advance polls and options on where to vote, Williams said.

While cities here talk about introducing electronic voting, Markham pioneered internet voting in 2006 and will offer it again this election.

Political observers say participation in municipal politics is one of the first barometers of civic engagement. It’s a way to measure a community’s health. If that’s true, then the signs aren’t good, Docherty said.

If voters can’t be bothered to help choose who makes the decisions on their local councils, how can they be expected to care about what’s happening in their own backyards?

“These things hit people’s lives in ways that many people don’t think it does. They ask ‘why should I go to a meeting on a bicycle path in my area?’ Well, you should because it’s your neighbourhood. And that matters.”

gmercer@therecord.com

What they do

REGIONAL MUNICIPALITY OF WATERLOO

policing

garbage collection and disposal

ambulance services

social housing

water and waste water treatment

Waterloo Region International Airport

child care, income support, employment help

regional roads

region-wide land-use planning

LOCAL MUNICIPALITIES

fire protection

parks and recreation

libraries

secondary streets

animal control

economic development

land use planning

What they spend

Total spending combines operating and capital budgets for most recent year. Capital spending can fluctuate significantly from year to year.

MUNICIPALITIES

Regional Municipality of Waterloo: $1.1 billion, population 534,900.

Kitchener: $452.3 million, population 224,100

Waterloo: $133 million, population 121,700

Cambridge: $110 million, population 127,900

Woolwich: $22.9 million, population 22,200

Wilmot: $17.7 million, population 19,100

Wellesley: $11.1 million, population 10,400

North Dumfries: $4.5 million, population 9,500

HYDRO CORPORATIONS

Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro: $198.3 million

Cambridge and North Dumfries Hydro: $140 million

Waterloo North Hydro: $47.9 million

CAMBRIDGE — It’s time to clean up the city’s finances and ask taxpayers to pitch in to spruce up the city, says mayoral candidate Linda Whetham.

“The biggest complaint I get is litter,” she said during a mayoral debate hosted by the Sunrise Rotary Club Friday at Galt Country Club.

A city-wide litter education plan and cleanup effort is top of her goals to promote the environment at City Hall.

Candidate Andrew Johnson wants government to take the green lead, starting with promoting bus use over cars by offering free rides to everyone younger than 25.

That will create a new generation less likely to demand more roads and more willing to live in a more efficient, compact city, he said.

“There is only so much space. We need to look at new ways to use the infrastructure we already have,” Johnson said.

Incumbent Doug Craig said the city must be a leader in energy conservation and finding alternative sources of energy — like solar panels on the roofs of city buildings.

The new, $30 million City Hall is an environmental model for Canada, he said. It costs 40 per cent less to operate that the office space the city used to rent.

“If you go green, there is money to be saved,” Craig said.

Craig, a retired teacher, said he’s been involved in Cambridge politics since 1976, and has been mayor since 2000.

Johnson, a financial planner, said he was first elected to Elora village council at age 24, then served as a school board trustee and councillor in Wellington County before moving to Cambridge.

Whetham, a small-business owner, has been a city councillor for two terms, representing the fast growing North Galt ward. She wants term limits on council members, so they can’t serve more than two times in a row.

Johnson said the city’s finances are a mess, with city taxes and wage increases for city workers growing at double the inflation rate. He won’t take a salary for his first year in office, to set an example for city workers to reduce their wage demands.

The city has blown its debt free status and hiked taxes over the past 10 years, Whetham said. It’s time to get back to basics and stop spending on anything other than core city services. “At the city, we seem to be picking up the tab for the province or Ottawa. That has to stop. We can’t afford it.

She opposes a $6 million city contribution to a performing arts centre for Drayton Theatre city council has approved along the Grand River.

“I have quite often voted no for big pie-in-the-sky projects,” Whetham said.

Johnson praised the city’s ability to land a “top drawer operation” like Drayton, but said more money now has to be spent on improving the city’s lacklustre recreational facilities.

Cambridge will borrow $11 million to get $23 million more in federal-provincial job creation grants to fix pools, arenas and roads across the city, Craig said.

The city has the lowest rate of increases in taxes and public worker wages in Waterloo Region over the last four years, has decreased the electricity rate and development charges on new construction, Craig said.

The city must plan for a green energy future while providing cultural services to attract highly educated workers who want to work in new companies, he said.

“We have to set the stage for business and industry to do that,” Craig said.

Johnson said Cambridge “isn’t in the game” when it comes to attracting high tech businesses, because the city is alienated with the rest of Waterloo Region.

“Our success is going come as part of a regional effort.”

KITCHENER — Just over half of the invited candidates seeking election to Kitchener city council showed up for an all-candidates meeting Thursday hosted by the K-W Multicultural Centre.

Marty Schreiter, program co-ordinator at the K-W Multicultural Centre, said he wished more candidates had attended.

“You could interpret it that way,” Schreiter said when asked if the poor attendance is a reflection of the importance placed on multicultural issues by some municipal candidates.

The all-candidates debate at the Grand River Stanley Park Library branch was the first of four the K-W Multicultural Centre is hosting to help immigrants make an informed decision at the ballot box on Oct. 25.

“We would certainly hope for better representation from the candidates at the next three meetings,” said Schreiter, adding this is a busy time for candidates and they may have conflicting engagements.

All 11 councillor candidates running in Wards 1, 2, 3 and 10 were invited, but only seven attended.

Mayor Carl Zehr, who is seeking re-election, also showed up.

Those in attendance included Moni Lagonia from Ward 1, Joyce Palubiski and incumbent Berry Vrbanovic from Ward 2, Bob McColl from Ward 3, and Daniel Glenn-Graham and Denis Pellerin from Ward 10. Incumbent Ward 3 Councillor John Gazzola arrived late for the meeting because of a family emergency.

Absent were Scott Davey from Ward 1, and Paula Sossi from Ward 3, and Gary Ferguson and Terry Marr from Ward 10.

About 30 people were in attendance as the candidates answered four questions that they had previously been sent.

One question dealt with the lack of certified interpreters at St. Mary’s Hospital and Grand River Hospital.

Lucia Harrison, executive director of the K-W Multicultural Centre, said this question was prompted by two incidents that were brought to the centre’s attention.

One involved a Chinese woman who brought her ailing child to the emergency department. The woman could only speak Mandarin and became so irritated by the language barrier that a doctor told her to walk the hospital hallways looking for someone who could speak her language, Harrison told the meeting.

Another woman diagnosed with cancer could not understand what the doctor was telling her because of a language barrier, she said.

Harrison said municipal councillors sit on local hospital boards and could advocate the need for skilled interpreters at hospitals.

Most of the candidates said they would push for interpreters at hospitals, though some said it may be difficult to represent every language spoken in Waterloo Region.

Vrbanovic said among the staff at city hall, between 30 and 40 languages are spoken, and their services are used when needed.

Another question involved the eligibility of new immigrants to vote in municipal elections.

In Ontario, only Canadian citizens are eligible to vote in municipal elections. Attaining citizenship can take up to five years and this requirement prevents permanent residents awaiting citizenship from voting in municipal elections.

Other countries, such as New Zealand and a number of European countries, extend municipal voting rights to non-citizen residents, Harrison said.

All of the candidates said they would support amending the Ontario Municipal Elections Act to allow residents to vote before they become Canadian citizens.

“If you live in the city and are paying property taxes … you should have a say on what goes on at city hall,” McColl said.

New immigrants make up 22 per cent of the region’s population. Between 2001 and 2006, 17,020 people immigrated to the region, according to the Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Centre.

The other three all-candidates meetings are:

Saturday from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Forest Heights Library at 251 Fischer-Hallman Rd. in Kitchener. Kitchener candidates from Wards 5, 6, 7 and 8 will be featured.

Tuesday, Oct. 19, from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the McCormick branch of Waterloo Public Library at 500 Parkside Dr. in Waterloo. All Waterloo candidates will be featured.

Thursday, Oct. 21, from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Kitchener City Hall at 200 King St. W. Kitchener candidates from Wards 4 and 9 and mayoral candidates will be featured.

Re: Low income, low electioneering — Oct. 6

While it is an unfortunate truth that candidates focus their campaigning in areas where there is higher voter turnout, I can say that the candidates in Waterloo will come when invited. The Sunnydale Community has many things in common with the Chandler-Mowat neighbourhood in Kitchener, except we cannot say we are overlooked by our municipal politicians. A number of city and regional candidates have been visitors to our community. They know who we are and what our challenges are.

Perhaps all that is needed is an invitation. For three Thursdays leading up to election day, candidates are invited in rotation to our community centre; to meet us, learn about us and for us to do the same. No invited candidate has refused my invitation. We also have an information day set up to talk with people about what voting is and what positions the candidates are campaigning for. On election day, we will gather at our community centre and go together to vote and make our voices heard.

For those of us who live in these communities, we need to take the initiative to promote the vote, put up signs, and start the conversation with each other and the candidates.

Laurie Strome

Sunnydale Community,

Waterloo

KITCHENER — This was probably the first all-candidates debate ever settled with rock-paper-scissors.

Then again, it was also probably the first one where candidates were greeted with cheering sections complete with face paint and customized songs written in their honour.

The Grade 5 students at A.R. Kaufman Public School got a chance to question Mayor Carl Zehr and ward 8 candidates Zyg Janecki, Bill Pegg and Scott Piatkowski last night at a refreshingly youthful debate.

The kids had spent the past few weeks learning about the election and why municipal politics matters. They had opinions on everything from how to handle Kitchener’s growing population and what to do about traffic congestion to curbing pollution and the need for more schools and parks.

One girl said city parking meters needed to offer longer parking times, explaining her dad got three tickets last year. Another boy said if Kitchener and Waterloo were to amalgamate, he’d like the new city to be named Kitcherloo.

“I want them to care about it,” explained teacher Tom Fuke, who organized the debate inside the school’s gym. “I want them to get excited about politics, so that when they’re 18, they will go out and vote.”

Yasmine Agocs, 10, asked a question about urban sprawl, which she earlier put in Grade 5 terms.

“Me and my brother love to go into the fields and get bugs, but it’s not fair because it’s all homes now,” she said. “I think we should save more nature.”

Alyssa Earle, 9, said she already knew who she’d vote for, if she could — Zehr, because her grandpa was a friend of his, she said. She wanted to ask the candidates to do more to stop littering, she said.

With two MCs barely taller than the podium, the candidates took turns answering the students’ questions on light rail and low-income housing. When it came time to decide which council candidate should speak first, they dueled with rock-paper-scissors, after the game was explained to Janecki.

The candidates talked in kid-friendly terms about the need to be engaged in your community, and in adult terms about the problems of urban sprawl, the high cost of a light rail system and the low voter turnout in recent elections.

“Believe it or not, there are people who are allowed to vote but don’t,” Piatkowski told the kids.

All candidates said something needed to be done about traffic gridlock, though Janecki and Pegg said the projected price of a light-rail system was too high. Piatkowksi called for a greener, more pedestrian-friendly city, and Zehr said the city need to make it more attractive to develop homes in denser neighbourhoods.

The students also wanted to know what their favourite book was (Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis for Zehr; Kitchener, An Illustrated History for Pegg; Anne of Green Gables for Piatkowski; anything by military historian Richard Romer for Janecki). They wanted to know what kind of music they liked (Zehr said John Lennon, Janecki and Pegg both said classical, and Piatkowski said Neil Finn of Crowded House.)

Neither mayoral candidates Don Pinnell or Frank Kulcsar attended the debate. Zehr, meanwhile, seemed to enjoy the boisterous welcome he received from the kids at Kaufman, the same school his daughter attended back in the 1970s.

“I have never had a cheer before in a campaign,” he said. “That was a first for me.”

gmercer@therecord.com

WATERLOO — About 300 people packed the Albert McCormick Community Centre yesterday to pepper their four mayoral candidates with questions about hydro revenues, fluoridation of drinking water, merger talks with Kitchener, public transit, bicycle trails and leadership.

This city has the most number of mayoral candidates and the people attending Tuesday night’s debate had lots of questions for Brenda Halloran, the incumbent mayor, Jan d’Ailly, a two-term member of city council, Franklin Ramsoomair, a former business professor and Dale Ross, a retired business executive.

“I am appalled by the blatant and scandalous squandering of our tax dollars,” Ramsoomair, said in his opening statement.

The tax-rate stabilization fund had $5.7 million four years ago, but now has $100,000, a drop of 98 per cent, Ramsoomair said.

“Yet taxes have increased by 12 per cent in the past four years, twice the rate of inflation,” Ramsoomair said.

Peter Lee, Record staff

The city has been plagued by financial mismanagement, Ramsoomair said.

Jan d’Ailly, said it is time for the city’s mayor to lay out a vision for how people will live, work and play in Waterloo as it grows in size and reputation.

One of the main parts of d’Ailly’s 17-point platform is what he calls “The Innovation Trail,” a walking and cycling path that would loop through the city connecting Conestoga Mall, the Research and technology Park, the universities and the downtown.

Dale Ross, a retired executive, said he has 30 years in the private sector.

“I do not carry the baggage of a career politician,” Ross said.

Ross said he would bring private-sector standards to some municipal operations. Later in the evening, Ross said, when it comes to pay increases Ross said he would put a halt to the practice of comparing wage levels with seven other cities and use private-sector benchmarks.

“I have a reputation for being pragmatic,” Ross said.

The incumbent mayor, Halloran, knows too well that every municipal election in the past 10 years has sent a different person into the mayor’s chair.

“We have a lot to be proud of in Waterloo, it is the best city in Canada,” Halloran said. “Four years ago when I arrived there was a history of confrontation and closed doors.”

Four years ago the city had the most debt in the province and now it is ranked seventh, Halloran said.

A new fire station and library branch were constructed on time and on budget during the past term of council, Halloran said.

In the past 10 years the City of Waterloo has taken millions of dollars out of its hydro utility, including $14.2 million that was invested and will be used to pay off the $32.8 million debt associated with the RIM Park financing scandal. The other cities in the region have also taken millions out of their utilities.

All of the candidates were asked if they agreed with taking funds out of the hydro utility.

Halloran said it is misleading to say the city has taken money out of the utility because those funds belonged to the citizens of Waterloo. The Waterloo North Hydro utility is seeking an 18.5 per cent increase in rates.

“There has not been an increase in our hydro rates in the past seven years,” Halloran said.

Ross said the practice is unacceptable.

“It is nothing more than a back door tax increase,” Ross said.

Peter Lee, Record staff

D’Ailly, who supported taking the $14.2 million out of the utility for the RIM Park debt, said any surplus from the utility should be invested in the community to bury the lines underground, among other initiatives.

“I do believe it is a back door revenue source we should not be tapping into,” d’Ailly said.

Rapid transit is a huge issue in this election and the mayoral candidates were asked about their position on it.

Ross said he is opposed to the proposed light rail system that will cost an estimated $794 million.

“I believe there are more cost effective versions available,” Ross said.

“This is actually a regional issue,” Ross said.

But the mayors of the three cities sit on regional council, and each city elects other councillors directly to the region as well.

D’Ailly said there is absolutely no doubt the region must improve its transit.

“The questions are how and when?” d’Ailly said.

If elected, d’Ailly said he will push for a series of public forums where the assumptions behind the light rail proposal are tested and debated.

Ramsoomair said: “Right now we do not have the luxury of spending $790 million on light rail transit.”

The light rail system is something to be considered in the future, Ramsoomair said.

Halloran said the light rail system is not an affordable option. Halloran said she has heard from many constituents who are opposed to it.

“As we are canvassing we are hearing loud and clear and we are listening,” Halloran said.

All of the candidates were asked about their vision for connecting the scattered collection of off-road paths and trails for walking and cycling.

D’Ailly said active transportation must be an integral part of the city’s transportation planning.

D’Ailly is the only mayoral candidate with a specific plan in place to link important areas of the city with a trail for pedestrians sand cyclists. D’Ailly said Waterloo is way behind many other cities when it comes to cycling infrastructure.

Ramsoomair said he would appoint an expert panel of students and cyclists to decide where and how to build cycling infrastructure.

The city has been doing a lot for cyclists and pedestrians, Halloran said.

When streets are being upgraded cycling infrastructure is often added, and the city has adopted a Pedestrian Charter, Halloran said.

Halloran said the City of Waterloo aims to be the first in Canada to win a designation as a bicycle friendly community from the League of American Cyclists.

Ross said it is a question of timing and costs and the city should do what it can to get students living closer to campuses so they can walk.

On fluoridation, Halloran is alone in her support for the continuation of the practice.

“I was a nurse for a number of years. I have a daughter who is 21 and has one cavity,” Halloran said. “It’s all controlled. It follows strict procedures. I drink our water. I have faith in the system.”

Ross said it is an ethical issue and one group of people does not have the right to force others to put a chemical into their bodies.

D’Ailly said there are now many ways of getting fluoride to the teeth without putting it in drinking water and because he goes by “the precautionary principle,” d’Ailly said he will vote against continued fluoridation of the drinking water.

“I will not be supporting fluoride,” Ramsoomair said. “Fluoride is a poison.”

Waterloo voters will have two referendum questions on their Oct. 25 election ballots. The first deals with fluoridation of the drinking water. The second asks voters if they want their city council to explore the pros and cons of merging with the City of Kitchener.

“It is a very confusing question and that is the main reason you should vote ‘no,’” d’Ailly said.

Merger talks should include the whole region and not just Kitchener and Waterloo, d’Ailly said.

“It is a confusing question, it is a costly question,” Ramsoomair said. “I will vote ‘no’ to amalgamation.”

Good neighbours can co-operate and lend or borrow cups of sugar without getting married, Ramsoomair said.

Halloran said she brought forward the motion to put this question on the ballot because she wanted Waterloo voters to decide the city’s fate.

If voters in both cities approve the talks, the two city councils will spend the next four years negotiating the issues and then another referendum will be held to ask citizens if they want to amalgamate the two cities, Halloran said.

Ross said: “I am recommending we vote ‘no’ on the merger question.”

Ross said the merger of the two cities would see taxes increase by five per cent in Waterloo and drop slightly in Kitchener according to his back-of-the-envelope calculations.

“I do not believe there are any benefits to a merger at this point in time,” Ross said.

The mayoral candidates were also asked about spending tax dollars for the public art in the public square at King Street and Willis Way.

D’Ailly said public art is important, but this bell sculpture is the wrong piece of the art for the public square and it should be moved.

Halloran said the sculpture was selected by a group of citizens and people should embrace it because it would cost too much to move it.

“I think it was a complete waste of money,” Ross said.

Ramsoomair said the public should have been more involved in the process of selecting public art.

The candidates were also asked about job creation, how to catch-up on the backlog of old roads, sewers, water mains and sidewalks that need replacing and arts and culture.