One of the most inspiring things to come out of the election for me has been seeing the…

One of the most inspiring things to come out of the election for me has been seeing the rise in public engagement.

I believe that's been in part prompted by what seems like an intentional decision by much of the local media to boil the mayor's race down into two or three ingredients. Also contributing has been a lack of access to some publicly-run debates (due to space and accessibility issues) and the format of some of them, which hasn't always permitted candidates to fully state their positions or engage in any back and forth with their opponents. Also, public questions asked at live debates are limited to a lucky few.

This is ***not*** a criticism of the many dedicated volunteers (!) who organize debates and all candidates meetings. They are working with what they have with a genuine desire to inform their neighbours about the options on the ballot. Thank you all for the opportunities you've provided me and my colleagues to get our messages out!

For the most part, local broadcasters are corporations that, while regulated, have a lot of discretion about what they choose to cover. We can agree or disagree with their choices. There are many alternative sources of news aside from corporate media if you disagree with their assessment of what candidates and issues deserve airtime or print space. And there are some big media players (shout out to Rogers TV) that have been universally even-handed in their election coverage.

After this campaign, we can brainstorm and work together for upcoming elections to create more and better opportunities for engagement with all willing candidates.

And in the meantime, we can all use our little hand held computers to do our own research about the candidates, who they are, and what they stand for.

It is fantastic to see so many people making this choice this year! And to people who are still waiting for answers to questions you've sent me, I am still working on them! A little bit at a time, every day.

Thanks for doing your part to build an informed electorate, starting with yourself 👏👏👏