Councillors Adam Bureau and Aaron Burchat have now posted their campaign material on new web sites.   Of the 14 candidates who filed nomination papers, only seven have provided voters with detailed information. Mayor Henderson was first with information, and so far Nicole Beatty, Michael Sprayson, Miriam Mutton and now Adam and Aaron have followed with comprehensive web sites. Perhaps the other candidates are waiting for the all-candidates session organized by the Chamber of Commerce on 29 September – after all, voting doesn’t start until October 14.  Both Adam and Aaron are on the current Council so if you have been following Council news, you will already have some idea of what they think and do. But let me summarize what… Read complete articleAdam and Aaron Campaigning for re-election

Candidates who have filed to run for Council include Michael Sprayson – who is new to Council – and Miriam Mutton who was previously elected. Both hit the ground running and have already published their campaigns using web sites and both have strong messages. Both give details about themselves as people and details of their platform and both make a point of saying that they want citizen input – they want to listen. You may want to vote for both of them (you will be voting for five) but let me describe how they come across based on what they say on their web site. That’s looking past the facts of what they say and instead reporting on my impression… Read complete articleOne New and One Not So New Candidate

Nominations to run in the October Municipal election have been accepted since May 2, 2022 – they close August 19 so there’s plenty of time yet.  So far John Henderson has filed to run as Mayor, Suzanne Séguin is wanting to be Deputy Mayor again and Adam Bureau has filed to run for a Councillor position.  The last 4 years have been turbulent with the pandemic but also with major Capital Projects and a new-found interest in County responsibilities: affordable housing and homelessness.  Culture and Downtown vitalization seem to be on the back-burner and Tourism will no doubt take a hit with the new Parking fees. Big expenditures are planned to fix the Harbour and maybe enhance the East Pier. … Read complete articlePreliminary Review of Municipal Election

At a small Press Conference outside Victoria Hall today, John Henderson announced that he will run for re-election as Cobourg’s Mayor.  Adam Bureau was there and he said that he too has submitted his papers for re-election as Councillor although he has not yet started his campaign.  John handed out campaign material (see below) and has assembled a campaign team including Don Morrison and Roger Tessier.  John has lived in Cobourg for 36 years and has been on Council for the last 12 and in successive terms moved from Councillor, to Deputy Mayor to Mayor.   His campaign handout includes a list of “Areas of Focus” and his Professional Qualifications with a short section on his Personal Life.  He has provided… Read complete articleJohn Henderson Announces re-election Campaign

At the Committee of the Whole meeting on January 7, Town Clerk Brent Larmer will present a report on the recent Municipal election including statistics and possible changes for the next election in 2022.  At the time, there were a few reports of difficulties and Brent has addressed these in his report.  Improvements suggested include upgrading voter list accuracy, expanding the number of days for voting, removing telephone voting but adding additional Voter Help Centres (in person voting locations) and improved communications.  The turnout was low at 43.6% although it was better than the Provincial average of 37.7%. But overall, Brent declared the 2018 Municipal Election a success since it “demonstrated convenience, efficiency, accessibility and a cost benefit to the… Read complete articleReport on Voting at Municipal Election

Cobourg’s Election results were announced at an event staged in the Concert hall at Victoria Hall. Perhaps 60 people were there – including some staff, the election workers, candidates and citizens.  Results arrived at around 8:45 – all at once except for School Trustee results since tabulation was electronic.  See the table below for the vote numbers.  Cogeco was set up in the hall and were able to announce results as soon as anyone.  Since there were no polls – at least not as far as I know – it’s not realistic to say there were surprises.  However, given that a number of people (mostly women) said they were going to vote for all the women, it was surprising that… Read complete articleMunicipal Election Results

I voted today and my experience was positive although some problems voting by phone have already been reported (more under Links).  I’m reporting my experience in detail below so people know what to expect. Like any voting process, it has faults in the registering of who is eligible – the list is not perfect and to some extent relies on people not abusing the system by reporting errors or simply not voting twice when they receive two notices!  The basic list is generated by MPAC “principally based on property assessment data and the results of previous enumeration efforts”.  It seems that this is the principal source of errors and would apply to any technology used for voting.  One concern is… Read complete articleVoting Starts in Cobourg

On October 10 the Northumberland Central Chamber of Commerce held their All-Candidates meeting using their “Speed Campaigning” format which had proved successful in 2014. The idea was that citizens would be seated at 16 tables and one at a time the Candidates would join them for 6 minutes to answer questions. Nine candidates for Council, the two candidates for Deputy Mayor and three of the Candidates for English Public School trustee participated.  There were 16 tables and each table could accommodate 8 so capacity was 128.  All participants had to pre-register but in the end, there were 12 no-shows so many tables had only 7 voters.  Room rental at the Best Western was donated by the Cobourg Taxpayers Association when… Read complete articleAll-Candidates “Speed Campaigning” event

In asking leading “hot” questions of candidates, it seemed best to not be too limiting so the seventh question was open: Are there any other issues you want to address?  This provided an opportunity to mention anything else that they wanted to fix or that had been brought to their attention by their campaign.  I don’t know if all candidates are planning to knock on every door in Cobourg, but I know many are.  It’s acknowledged as the best way to get themselves known.  In doing so, they would hear what people are concerned about.  One issue mentioned by several candidates is the need for affordable housing – but this has been the subject of an all-candidates meeting (see link… Read complete articleCandidates answer open question

Last September, Bill Thompson emailed Mayor Gil Brocanier and said that five out of the seven municipalities in Northumberland County have a Question period so why can’t Cobourg do the same? Gil’s response was that legal advice was that it would open up Council to litigation.  Further he said that “Some municipalities have ignored their advice and allowed question periods that often turn into shouting matches and even Police enforcement. You need to look no further than Port Hope to see evidence of this.”  (See links below for more on this). But given that other Councils allow Questions, you have to believe that there is a way to allow for an open Question period in addition to the current delegation… Read complete articleShould Council Meetings have an open Q & A Session?