ROTHENBURGER – How about we tell drop-in politicians to stay home?
Jagmeet Singh. (Image: Facebook)
AS LONG AS WE’RE TALKING about electoral reform, how about we do something about drop-in politicians?
Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has announced he’ll run in a by-election in the Burnaby South riding. Singh lives in Toronto.
That riding is being vacated by NDP MP Kennedy Stewart. He lives in downtown Vancouver, and he wants to be a mayor, But instead of running for mayor of Burnaby, he plans to run for the mayoralty of Vancouver in the upcoming civic elections.
At least he’s going home. (He used to be the MP for Vancouver Centre but when he lost this seat there, he moved next door to Burnaby, politically that is.)
Whatever happened to living in the place you represent?
Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops, former school board chair, former editor of The Kamloops Daily News, and a current director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He was awarded the Jack Webster Foundation’s lifetime achievement award in 2011. His editorials are published Monday through Thursdays, and Saturdays on CFJC Today, CFJC Midday and CFJC Evening News. Contact him at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
I don’t think that politicians should be allowed to just ” drop in ” , and run for a seat either. In Singh’s situation, I think he knows he most likely won’t be elected elsewhere, and he was shopping for what looked to be an easy seat.
I posted my previous pro-Ward system comment on James Peters’ story before I read this article.
But I still think Kamloops is ready for the ward system. It is a geographically large city with a decently similar population across the city (excepting of course very dense or sparse regions, which could be accommodated by proper boundaries). The city itself has a very “city-like” population size. Too many non-“core” Tournament Capital residents have longingly eyed Downtown Kamloops in similar fashion to how Kamloopsians as a whole glare jealously at Vancouver’s bridge network while staring wistfully at the Singh Street bridge pillars…
This has nothing to do with the city , and a ” ward ” system Cynthia. Me thinks you are confused.
So milobar can stay on south side