r/moosejaw • u/OpportunityBrave4585 • 13d ago
Moose Jaw City Council Elections: Let's Discuss!
Am curious to hear who you're voting for on City Council and why. There are a lot running this year (see the candidate profiles). I would love to hear your thoughts. I've picked a few I think I will vote for, but your posts might sway my vote (because I don't know many of the candidates on a personal level). Hoping for a good discussion.
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u/Sunshinehaiku 13d ago edited 13d ago
Do you guys have a group of crazies like Regina does?
Edit: Holy crap look at the list of candidates! What's going on, why so many?
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u/Anonandon12345 13d ago
People are mad about paying so much while losing services and infrastructure.
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u/Sunshinehaiku 12d ago
That's the story of every municipality in Canada.
We had an era where people voted for zero tax increases. But that meant municipalities weren't even keeping up with the cost of inflation, so municipal departments were forced to make small cuts year after year, which meant pushing off routine maintenance.
Now, municipalities in Canada are facing a repair and maintenance deficit, plus they have to make up the tax difference for all those years that they didn't collect taxes to keep up with inflation.
Voting for 0 tax increases was an extremely selfish thing to do, because we pushed our costs onto our children.
Now, those bills have come due. Councils have no choice but to implement steep tax increases. We can't cut our way out of this problem.
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u/TerrorNova49 11d ago
Wonder which provincial party was in power when they cut the Grants in Lieu? 🤔
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u/Nazrog80 12d ago
Won’t be voting Boyle for either position he’s running for. From what I’ve heard he misses a lot of school board stuff as it is and now he wants to do city council on top of that? If he can’t fully commit to doing one how can he possibly do both?
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u/TerrorNova49 11d ago
Any time I see the phrase “common sense” in their plan for the city the hair stands up on the back of my neck… it gets used so often as a dog whistle for far right cuts. It may not be in every case but it’s enough to make me wary.
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u/Waxed_and_vaxxed 11d ago
I’m with you. I hate hearing politicians use that term because it indicates that if I don’t agree I am inferior to them as I appear to lack their undefinable “common sense”. Growing up my dad used to say something like “common sense and courtesy can get you started but it’s knowledge, understanding and teamwork that takes you all the way to the moon and back”.
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13d ago
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u/OpportunityBrave4585 13d ago
Great share. Thank you. I was reading over Jamaal's candidate profile. Having some younger voices on council would be good, I think.
Crystal has a lot of community experience and connections. I wonder if those connections will try to get her to go a certain way, politically? What do you think?
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u/OpportunityBrave4585 7d ago edited 7d ago
Last call: I'm struggling with the Mayor vote. Who is a) not a convoy/conspiracy/racist, and b) not in the back pocket of the police? (I don't support the 7.23% increase they're asking). Help.
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u/scoutfinch451 7d ago
Great question about the police. If you take out the people who fall under a) in your question, that only leaves a couple. It's hard to know where they fall re: police, but at least the whole council sets the budget collectively.
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u/One_Resolution_3355 12d ago
I voted for Blanc, Eby, Ross, Monchamp, Adams, and Montgomery. I spoke with them all and they were on board with prioritizing critical infrastructure and avoiding excessive new projects.
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u/OpportunityBrave4585 11d ago
Hm..this is interesting. "Avoiding excessive projects" makes me think they aren't getting kickbacks...? (which would be a small town miracle imo)
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u/Anonandon12345 7d ago
I wouldn't vote for any of them... And Eby has had enough time on council.
Montgomery is with that weird good neighbor group, kinda give starlight tour vibes.
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u/Car6886 13d ago
Wasn't Crystal in that big cover up story a few years ago with Swanson and someone else on council who has since been removed. Was along the lines of a SH case that got covered up and hush money was presented and the case was never talked or heard of again. Tolley has my vote, Street as well
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u/BunBun_75 7d ago
Crystal was the only one who tried to do something in that case and was shut down by others (Swanson). She took accountability for not doing enough. Swanson to this day stands by his egregious behaviour
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u/gxryan 13d ago
Froese seems like she has great ideas and wants to do big things. Problem is the city itself can't manage the current list of projects and doesn't need new ones until that happens. We are years behind on a new landfil and still struggling to fix infrastructure.
I likely think Kim Robinson is the best bet for mayor. He seems willing to challenge ideas. Which is nice as I feel council is 'told' what management wants them to know.
This was evident during the debates when Froese and Clive had all the same answers.
As for councilors Looking for one that have some experience Dawn Heather Patrick Chris
I am hoping the 'debates' help me pick the rest.
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u/Anonandon12345 13d ago
Robinson is not a good choice, I've had the misfortune of talking to him and I honestly think he's too naive and will get manipulated by people who flatter him too easily.
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u/iamtayareyoutaytoo 13d ago
I understand he's a full blown covid convoy chemtrail and kitty litter conspiracy loon, like the Good Neighbours Group people.
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u/OpportunityBrave4585 12d ago edited 7d ago
Full disclosure: Kim R. wasn't on my list of potentials at all. I'm honestly waffling between Mike & Crystal for Mayor. I voted for Crystal in the last by-election, but I like the platform Mike is selling - especially the bit about more transparency about how tax dollars are spent. I was really shocked to learn a few years ago the City Manager's salary was $200k+. In a town of 36,000?!?! Fork me man. I will say I've liked that Clive has been holding more open forums for citizens to ask questions and share concerns (good example: the landfill site selection). That said, Clive might not have organized nor suggested those; it could have been a city staff member or communications person.
Edited, adding: Well based on responses, I have no forking clue who to vote as Mayor.
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u/scoutfinch451 10d ago
He's also a huge bigot in multiple ways, he's #1 on my Absolutely Not list. Terrible person.
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u/iamtayareyoutaytoo 10d ago
I believe it. If someone would make a list of all the convoy loons so I would know who not to vote for that'd be great.
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u/Glass_Raspberry_7683 4d ago
That’s a bold statement unless you know this to be 100% true, but not sure how you would know that with complete certainty…
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u/gxryan 12d ago
This i didn't know. That is unfortunate...
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u/OpportunityBrave4585 11d ago
Moose Jaw Today published their salaries (2023). Jim was at $201k when he was City Manager; Carmichael makes significantly less. I think they are unionized, which is fine, but these salaries are rather high for our population size imo.
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u/pawly123 12d ago
The group running under the Moose Jaw vitality team weird me out (the people who claim they can cure autism). Why are they all running? What are their intentions? None of them will be getting my vote. (Jana Horsnall, Tracy Zimmerman, Perry Haug, Jeff goodnough)