In reference to Andrew Scheer and his surprise win as Conservative leader, I found this quote from the CBC:
“That was September 2016, and that week, Scheer announced he was stepping back from his current caucus position as House leader to pursue his leadership bid. His campaign saw him pick up dozens of endorsements from within the Conservative caucus and without; a key moment for his campaign came when Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall offered his support. Another came when farmers in Quebec coalesced around his campaign in a bid to stop Bernier. The latter’s opposition to supply management was seen as a threat to their livelihoods; thousands of farmers are believed to have bought memberships in the party specifically to vote against Bernier.”
I make this reference in the context of what I see happening in Vernon right now with the issues of the denial of a change to the bylaw about sleeping in parks, and the decision regarding the application by a housing society in council chambers. What I see happening over the next year is a wave of reaction to those decisions by local citizens who feel that their basic concerns pertaining to their quality of life are not being given the level of protective legislation and oversight from Vernon city council.
That realization and the reaction to it will manifest itself in how people vote for the councillors and mayor next year, based on how they voted on issues.
In the last couple of years, I have been paying very close attention to, and documenting what has been said, and how votes have been cast, and I believe that when people are reminded by myself and others (some of whom may be candidates next year), people who have been affected will react with how they vote.
I have already discussed this with two local citizens who have indicated to me that enough is enough relative to what they see as an excess of social engineering to the exclusion of voting for primary protective and infrastructure enhancements that citizens here need, and which some of the councillors and the mayor seem to be marginalizing. They both plan on running and changing the current dynamics of how Vernon city council evaluates on issues and votes on those issues.
Dean Roosevelt
Vernon