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.

WATERLOO REGION — Roda Gany has seen the election signs, read the pamphlets, and had two candidates knock on her door.

But the 30-year-old Kitchener woman is still confused. She’s not sure who to vote for.

The municipal election on Oct. 25 will be the first election in which she will cast a vote since coming to Canada from Sudan in 1998.

“I’m confused. I don’t know what to do,’’ said Gany, who plans to attend a candidate meeting at Kitchener City Hall on Oct. 16. The meeting is being organized by the K-W Multicultural Centre for immigrants and will have candidates from her ward telling her why she should vote for them.

Gany is not alone. Many voters become overwhelmed with the number of candidates running for ward councillor, regional councillor, school board trustee and the position of mayor.

For immigrant voters, municipal elections can appear confusing. Unlike provincial and federal elections, candidates in municipal campaigns don’t organize along party lines.

The K-W Multicultural Centre is holding all-candidates meetings in Kitchener and Waterloo, the first time in a municipal election.

“We are doing this because municipal and regional council play an important role and can have more impact then provincial and federal politicians,’’ said executive director Lucia Harrison.

“We want to encourage people to get more information.’’

Harrison said she’s glad to see minority candidates running for office because it “more accurately reflects the population.’’

Franklin Ramsoomair is one of them. The 59-year-old former business professor at Wilfrid Laurier University is trying to unseat Brenda Halloran to become Waterloo’s new mayor.

Trinidadian-born Ramsoomair decided to run when the rate of taxation for Waterloo residents went from concern to worry. Over the past four years, Waterloo council has increased city taxes 12.5 per cent, about double the rate of inflation.

As Ramsoomair knocks on the doors of constituents, he said he’s been warmly received.

“Ethnicity is a superficial factor. I am myself and people see who I am,’’ he said. “People get past the skin colour.’’

Ramsoomair said people want to hear what he will do as mayor.

He wants to talk about protecting the environment, creating jobs, introducing webinars — web-based seminars — on the city website, and addressing the needs of seniors by holding an Open Doors Day at city hall once a week.

But Ramsoomair said he has met with leaders of different ethnic groups, such as the Chinese and the South Asian communities, who have “grilled” him on what he will do as mayor.

Ramsoomair came to Canada as a young man to attend university because of the sacrifice of his parents. He went on to receive his doctorate at the University of Toronto.

In Cambridge, Atinuke Bankole, who is running for regional council, said she is garnering support from various community groups.

Bankole, who was born in Nigeria, said voters are curious about her views on Cambridge and want to hear what she has to say.

“People stick to the issues and they are eager to hear my perspective,’’ said Bankole, a 29-year-old substitute elementary school teacher.

Bankole hopes to increase the number of voters who cast ballots in municipal elections in Cambridge. In the 2006 election, just 26 per cent of the city’s eligible voters voted.

“People died for the right to vote. Women got the vote in the 20th century,’’ she said. “If you don’t vote, you are wasting a voice you have.’’

Bankole admits unseating two experienced incumbents — Jane Brewer and Claudette Millar — is challenging but believes her fresh ideas are needed. She wants more public input on roundabouts, an improved transit system and better funds for Cambridge Memorial Hospital.

Bankole said she hopes by running for regional council she will encourage other visible minority women to seek municipal office.

“I see them volunteering and doing good things (in the community). Politics is just another step. It’s not unreachable.’’

Cambridge businessperson Prakash Venkataraman is “extremely happy” to see candidates of different ethnic backgrounds running for election.

“It emphasizes the fact that the system works,’’ he said. “They are not afraid. They want to give it their best shot.’’

lmonteiro@therecord.com

WATERLOO REGION — Election candidates are fleeing from a rapid transit proposal that’s intended to change the way we live.

But this does not mean the rail transit plan is dead, say lobby groups on both sides of the controversy.

Statements by 29 regional council candidates suggest two-thirds oppose or lean against the $800-million plan to put electric trains on local streets. Even candidates who lean toward the plan want it made cheaper.

“We’re seeing a lot of very disappointing rhetoric,” said Tim Mollison, spokesperson for a pro-rail lobby called the Tri-Cities Transport Action Group.

Critics complain about the local share of launch costs, reaching up to $235 million. Some want cheaper rapid buses instead. Some say the whole idea of rapid transit should be scrapped.

“How many of those two-thirds are actually going to get elected?” Mollison asked.

He’s not persuaded widespread candidate opposition will lead to a new council willing to kill the plan after the Oct 25 election. Rail critic Ruth Haworth agrees.

“They might go along with some less expensive but still super-expensive way of shoving it through somehow,” said Haworth, spokesperson for an anti-rail lobby called Taxpayers for Sensible Transit. “I’m hopeful that there’s a chance we might kill this off.”

The rapid transit proposal, eight years in the making, calls for electric trains on dedicated lanes in Kitchener and Waterloo, as the regional population heads toward 729,000 by 2031. Buses would extend into Cambridge, with features to help them speed past traffic.

Proponents say the trains will draw commuters from their cars better than buses, while persuading investors to erect homes and offices in neighbourhoods near stations. Critics fear it will be an underused white elephant that will disrupt traffic and suck up funds better spent to build a more useful bus system.

“To reach the conclusion that rail transit is dead I think would probably be pushing it too far,” said political science professor Robert Williams, retired from the University of Waterloo.

Factors will include who gets elected, the wiggle room in their stance, and the impact of new information such as revised costs.

jouthit@therecord.com

WATERLOO REGION — There are still opportunities left in the municipal election to vote at advance polls.

Cambridge will also hold a community-wide advance poll Oct. 16, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., at the Cambridge Centre by the Sears outlet.

Kitchener has advance polls Oct. 16, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the following community centres: Breithaupt, 350 Margaret Ave; Country Hills, 100 Rittenhouse Rd.; Doon Pioneer Park, 150 Pioneer Dr.; Forest Heights, 1700 Queen’s Blvd.; and Stanley Park, 505 Franklin St. N.

Waterloo is running advance polls Oct. 15 and 16, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Waterloo City Hall, 100 Regina St. S.

Wellesley Township has an advance poll Oct. 16, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., at the township administration office, 4639 Lobsinger Line, St. Clements.

Wilmot Township has an advance poll on Oct. 16, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., at the Wilmot Recreation Complex, 1291 Nafziger Rd., Baden.

Woolwich Township has an advance poll Oct. 15, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the township administration offices, 24 Church St. W., Elmira; and another Oct. 16, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Breslau Community Centre, 200 Woolwich St.

North Dumfries Township has an advance poll Oct. 16 at the Ayr Fire Hall, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

If you worry about what they put in hot dogs, you don’t have to eat them.

You don’t have to drink milk either, or eat Great Lakes fish, or consume sweets loaded with refined sugar and food colouring if you think those things are bad for you and your family.

But tap water? Well, that’s different. We must have water. We all pay for municipal water, whether we drink it or not. We demand higher standards of purity from our tap water than from any other drink or food, and that’s quite right.

And perhaps that’s why there’s such passionate debate about whether Waterloo should continue to fluoridate its tap water.

The issue is up before Waterloo voters on municipal election day. If I had my way, it would also be something that voters in Kitchener and Cambridge — who don’t have fluoridated water — would have the right to decide, too.

The weight of expert opinion makes this an easy decision.

Fluoridation of drinking water, if it’s done properly, protects people from the misery, expense and health hazard of tooth decay.

It especially protects adults and children from low-income homes, who have less access to good dental care in general and are therefore more at risk.

And according to decades of research, there are no adverse health effects associated with fluoridated water, which is now routine for 70 per cent of Ontario residents.

Respected organizations such as the U.S. Centre for Disease Control, the World Health Organization, the Canadian Paediatric Society, Health Canada, and the Ontario Dental Association all agree on this.

So what’s the problem? Why not put in this micro-nutrient that seems to do so much good? Why is there even a debate?

The critics — and many of them are well educated, reasonable people — are still skeptical. They are concerned about the possibilities of tiny amounts — too small to be measured — of toxic elements such as arsenic and lead that may be added along with the hydrofluorosilicic acid, which breaks down into fluoride when added to water.

They have other concerns, too.

And it’s important not to dismiss their concerns out of hand. Human history is full of episodes where the authorities told us a medicine or a chemical was safe, only to find out later that they were horribly, tragically, wrong.

Remember thalidomide, the drug that pregnant women took to avoid morning sickness that gave them deformed babies? How about asbestos, the material that was blithely used to insulate buildings and numerous other purposes until — oops! — we found out it caused cancer?

People in a community have a right to the best possible public health measures. At the same time, there is an argument to be made that people who believe that fluoride is harmful should not have it imposed on them in the one place they can least avoid it: their drinking water.

Perhaps the best solution would be to fluoridate the water, then offer citizens with deep objections some kind of financial assistance in obtaining a reverse-osmosis system that would remove the fluoride from their water.

In any case, sorting out the rights of these two different groups is something each Waterloo citizen must do. It’s a very important job, a very difficult one, and one on which citizens have a right to look to their leaders.

And that’s why it’s so disappointing to see two candidates for Waterloo mayor, Dale Ross and Brenda Halloran, decline to provide any assistance.

The other two candidates, Franklin Ramsoomair and Jan d’Ailly, state that their personal positions are not to fluoridate. D’Ailly says he believes it isn’t necessary because there are plenty of opportunities to obtain fluoride, such as treatments from the dentist.

The Ontario Dental Association wouldn’t agree with his view. But I give d’Ailly credit for taking a stand.

Halloran, on the other hand, won’t give her opinion and has said it’s a personal health issue.

She couldn’t be more wrong about that.

Whether you brush your teeth once, twice, or three times a day is a personal health decision.

Whether you fluoridate the community water supply is clearly a public health decision. And one on which our citizens can expect leadership.

ldamato@therecord.com

CAMBRIDGE — City council candidate Donna Reid called for a police escort to campaign inside a condominium building.

A Waterloo Regional Police sergeant wouldn’t accompany her inside, but did manage to broker a deal to get her past the locked front doors of The Caledonian after a three-hour wait Wednesday.

“It went well. I didn’t have a problem,” Reid said after canvassing 944 Caledonian View. She is now hopeful of a few votes from residents of the three-storey building.

Reid was ordered out of the building on Saturday, which she said is contrary to provincial law allowing candidates to campaign inside.

“I’m pursuing this because I think democracy is being flouted,” the longtime social activist said.

Reid was chair of a city committee that made recommendations to encourage people to get out and vote in the Oct. 25 city election. In the 2006 city vote, only 23 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots.

“It’s important,” she said. “These tenants have the right for someone to knock on their doors. They also have the right not to answer their doors.”

Reid had no problems campaigning inside a neighbouring condominium building, or another along Preston Parkway.

But property manager Ken Heffernan said Reid should have contacted the building management company before walking into the building as a resident opened the door, sparking a confrontation.

Reid demanded “reasonable access” to the building for political canvassing, as spelled out in the Ontario Condominium Act. To her, that means being free to knock on doors.

To Heffernan, that means buzzing an apartment on the security intercom, getting permission to go inside to talk to a resident, then going back to the lobby and buzzing the next apartment and asking for access again.

“They’re seniors. They’re all in their 70s and 80s,” so security is important, Heffernan said. “It’s up to the residents to decide to let you in.”

Reid asked police to help her by explaining the law to condominium officials. Sgt. Al Green said the police legal department researched the law before he arrived. Green wouldn’t go inside with her to intervene, but did talk with building officials.

“I’m here to maintain the peace and make efforts to mediate the matter,” he told her.

“What a complete waste of time,” said Gloria Wheeler, a resident and condominium board, as she closed the front door after Reid entered the building.

Reid is one of 10 candidates running in the new Ward 1, which stretches across the top of Cambridge from Blair in the west to Hespeler north of the Speed River in the west. It includes some of old Preston south of the Speed River – where The Caledonian condominium is located.

Reid worries many people don’t know about the ward change — or the election at all.

“We’ve sent troops to Afghanistan so they can have fair elections. We have to have it here.”

Cambridge clerk Alex Mitchell tried to intervene on Reid’s behalf on Tuesday. He said the person he spoke to at the condominium wouldn’t listen to his warning that candidates have legally mandated access.

Provincial officials confirmed candidates must have access by law to condominium buildings, along with secure rental apartment buildings. Fines range from a maximum of $25,000 for an individual who bars a candidate, to $100,000 for a corporation.

Complaints go to provincial investigators, who will call building officials to explain the law.

“They get a huge amount of compliance at that point,” said Sonya Rolfe, of the ministry of municipal affairs and housing.

Waterloo’s city clerk hasn’t had any complaints about candidates barred from buildings in the 2010 election. Kitchener took one call similar to Reid’s, but the problem appears to have been resolved after a call from the city, said clerk Randy Gosse.

“Every election we usually get one of these. A lot of them don’t know of that act,” Gosse said.

kswayze@therecord.com

There is not an election sign to be seen in Paula Johnstone’s low-income, high-density neighbourhood in Cambridge.

Just two blocks away, in a more middle-class neighbourhood, election signs promoting candidates for the Oct. 25 municipal election are visible.

“I think they (candidates) are scared to come here,” because of the stigma attached to poor neighbourhoods, said Johnstone, who lives in a rent-geared-to-income townhouse in the Christopher-Champlain area.

Johnstone said candidates may fear being robbed or confronted by a drug addict if their venture into more rundown neighbourhoods.

Across the way in Kitchener, Isla Noel lives in a similar neighbourhood in the Chandler-Mowat area which is home to about 3,000 people. Again, no elections signs are visible and no candidate has come knocking on doors or dropped off pamphlets.

This puzzles Noel as her neighbourhood is located in the newly created Ward 6 where six people are vying for this new seat on Kitchener city council.

“This is a huge, high density area. There is a wad of votes here up for grabs,” Noel said.

Johnstone and Noel are members of a group called Awareness of Low Income Voices. Founded in 2007 by Opportunities Waterloo Region, this 12-member group speaks from a collective voice to raise public awareness about what it is like to be poor.

Their goal is to get candidates talking about issues that impact poor people. They have sent out a questionnaire to gauge the stance of candidates on issues such as affordable housing, public transit and improved access to affordable, nutritious food for all low-income people. So far, about 10 candidates have responded.

They are also trying to convince more poor people to vote, a group who tend to be more concerned with survival than casting their ballots.

In Johnstone’s Christopher-Champlain neighbourhood in Cambridge, voter turnout was eight per cent during the 2006 municipal election.

“For many years, I didn’t feel I had the right to vote because I was getting social assistance,” said Johnstone, who lived in poverty for 26 years until she returned to school in 2006 and is now employed as an outreach worker in Cambridge.

“It is important for poor people to vote because for too long the decision makers have been making the decisions for us,” Johnstone said.

The group is also working with other social agencies and local municipalities to get homeless people to vote.

A homeless person can vote, even though they do not have a permanent address, as long as they have attended a shelter during the five weeks prior to an election.

Barbara da Silva is a Kitchener candidate for Waterloo regional council who speaks out against poverty from experience.

As a single mother of two who has MS and is confined to a wheelchair, da Silva has had to live on social assistance for more than half of her 49 years.

She believes the region should do more to ensure poor people have enough money so they do not have to go to food banks in record numbers.

She also believes the region should help people who get off social assistance with expenses previously covered by the government. For instance, in her case, social assistance covers the cost of her $20,000 wheelchair, a necessity for her to get around. If she got off social assistance, she would have to cover that cost.

“You are helping us not with a handout, but a hand up,” da Silva said.

She strongly urges poor people to vote to bring about change. “People who need the help are not the ones voting,” she said.

Kelly Galloway was the Kitchener councillor representing the neighbourhood of Chandler-Mowat until the boundaries of the city wards were changed for this municipal election. She is now running in a different ward.

During the 2006 municipal election when Kelly ran for the former Ward 4, she said she visited all areas of her ward — including the Chandler-Mowat neighbourhood — to get a handle on the issues facing her constituents.

But she said in the interest of time and resources, it is “absolutely possible” that municipal candidates may spend more time in parts of their wards where voter turnout traditionally has been higher.

fbarrick@therecord.com

WATERLOO REGION — Urban planning plays a key role in building safer communities and crime prevention, say most of the candidates in the Oct. 25 municipal elections.

When the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council asked candidates what areas of municipal responsibility play a key role in making communities safer, 86 per cent selected urban planning.

Christiane Sadeler, of the crime prevention council, said there is a direct and significant link between how places are developed and what happens there.

Places with few people and poor lighting are more prone to crime, Sadeler said, and municipal politicians and urban planners should design cities with children in mind.

“If a city is safe for children it is safe for everyone,” Sadeler said.

Sadeler said the crime prevention council did the survey, in part, to get these issues on the public agenda before the municipal election.

“They have a very strong capacity to do some positive things there,” Sadeler said of the influence municipal politicians can have on how cities are developed.

The survey results can be found at www.preventingcrime.ca. Click on Municipal Election 2010.

Sadeler said the crime prevention council’s survey is rooted in the research of the legendary urban thinker and writer Jane Jacobs.

Jacobs coined the term “eyes on the street” in her 1961 paean to urban life, The Death and Life of Great American Cities.

Mixed uses bring people to the sidewalks at all times of the day and night, and that brings more eyes to the street, making the place safer.

“The sidewalk must have users on it fairly continuously, both to add to the number of effective eyes on the street and to induce the people in buildings along the street to watch the sidewalks in sufficient numbers. Nobody enjoys sitting on a stoop or looking out a window at an empty street. Almost nobody does such a thing. Large numbers of people entertain themselves, off and on, by watching street activity,” Jacobs wrote.

Jeff Lederer, who teaches urban design at the University of Waterloo’s School of Architecture, is pleased to see that so many candidates think urban planning plays an important role in making cities safer.

Too many commercial developments in the suburbs are dominated by surface parking lots. Nobody wants to linger there so nobody is watching what goes on. That makes the areas more attractive to criminals.

“We built these places that we don’t care about any more so nobody puts their eyes on the streets,” Lederer said.

Lederer said the city councils in Waterloo, Kitchener and Cambridge have made important progress in bringing more people downtown, which makes the streets safer.

Waterloo, Kitchener and Cambridge have all successfully attracted residential developments to their city cores. Waterloo built a public square. Kitchener has nearly completed a redevelopment of King Street that is pedestrian-friendly. Cambridge backed the development of the school of architecture in an old Galt silk mill and a home for Drayton Theatre.

“I have to commend them in terms of trying to put certain elements in place that provide a safe feeling — the lighting and trying to get people on the street. If you get people on the street crime tends to go down,” Lederer said.

It is people who make urban places safer, and municipal councils should do all they can get more people living, working and playing in the same neighbourhood, Lederer said.

“If you have really bad public spaces, and nobody is using them and they are abandoned, that causes a lot of problems for the surrounding buildings because the buildings can’t be activated,” Lederer said.

“If you have really good public space then you can activate buildings,” Lederer said.

tpender@therecord.com

CAMBRIDGE — Spending $6 million of city money to build a theatre for Drayton Entertainment was raised repeatedly in a Cambridge mayoral debate Tuesday night.

Incumbent Doug Craig bristled at the attacks on Drayton as unfair to the arts community, saying nobody is complaining about the millions of dollars spent annually to run pools, arenas and parks.

“We just put $3 million into (the Johnson) pool and $2.4 million into Hespeler arena … there’s $6 million there but nobody is picking on that.”

Drayton will bring jobs to Cambridge and bring more business to town as it attracts 70,000 customers annually, Craig said as he held up a document he said was the business plan presented to the city, federal and provincial governments. Each government agreed to pay $6 million to the project that would become the headquarters for Drayton Entertainment. Drayton promises to pay all operating costs and raise funds to cover any extra costs to make the theatre happen, Craig said.

Challenger Linda Whetham — the current north Galt councillor — has consistently opposed the project.

“I think Drayton would be wonderful, but we should not have to pay the full cost of Drayton moving to Cambridge on the city taxpayers backs,” she said. “We are one taxpayer. I don’t care what level of government it comes from.”

Newcomer Andrew Johnson said arts is critical to a community’s health, but fudged his position about city money for Drayton.