Happy Thanksgiving

[cakadu]

I hope everyone is nearing the completion of harvest or has everything safely in the bin and all wrapped up.

The great weather we are having right now is something to be grateful for as it is allowing harvest to proceed.

I also hope that you can take time to be with family and friends and give thanks for what we have.

All of this will pass and we will be stronger, smarter and better for it in so many ways.

Happy Thanksgiving all.

Linda

[InAHurry]

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family Linda. We are blessed in so many ways, although sometimes we are 'put to the test'.
How is your campaign going ? I just hope that rural Albertans get out and vote, the turnout hasn't been all that great in the municipal elections over the years. I think that in municipalities where there has been controversy and major issues with the conduct and decisions of council, people do get out and make their vote count.

[cakadu]

Thanks emrald. My campaign is going very well and I am encouraged by warm reception that I am getting. It has been great to get to know so many more people in the division and I'm learning so much from them.

I too hope people take the time to get out and vote. What matters most is where we live.

[cakadu]

It seems that there are more signs up in rural areas this election than in the past. I have travelled quite a bit in the rural areas since nomination day, and even the backroads seem to have campaign signs....likely they will serve as a reminder to folks to get out and vote.

[cakadu]

I've seen more signs out too, especially in my area. Let's hope they serve as a reminder. Does anyone know how effective they are in helping one candidate over another? I can see having them in the city because it would be pretty hard to canvas every house. When they are all bunched together like that, I'm not sure how much time anyone has to look at them, what with having to watch we you're driving and all.

It started off a little frosty and cold this morning, but it has turned into an absolutely beautiful day. We don't even have to rake leaves this year because the sheep have come in and eaten most of them. Another thing to be thankful for!!!

[cakadu]

My feeling is that the traditional farming areas aren't influenced by signs, they vote for candidates that they feel have the best understanding of their issues and the abilty to work with the rest of council to make good decisions. I would say that the traditional agriculture areas' main concern is roads !!
Folks that live in Hamlets, and country residential areas may pay a bit more attention to signs. It all depends what background the candidates have. In our area one candidate is spending thousands of dollars on full page ads in several publications, huge, flashy signs all over the country side etc., and his opponent is going door to door, has very few signs and they aren't flashy at all, so it will be interesting to see which one has the most impact on election day. For the first time this year there seems to be a lot of vandalism of signs.

[cowman]

I have to agree with you Emerald, that roads are probably the main priority.You can always tell when it is an election year, as the gravel budget gets a healthy increase....$500,000 this year in RD county! I do believe in Red Deer county the main area should be land use, but I doubt it will be a major issue? The "powers that be" are trying to change the rules of the game right now, and I do believe that genie can't be put back in the bottle, but we will see? People aren't so complacent as they used to be and they certainly don't have much respect for their elected masters! They sure have no qualms about hiring a lawyer and having a go at it!...and a willing battery of lawyers just chomping at the bit! But for your average farmer, I don't think they realize yet that the municipality is trying to devalue their land prices?
I would think also in Red Deer county the "Taj Mahal"(new office building) should be an issue? A building that started out at $2.5 million and ended up costing more than $6 million! Obviously somebody wasn't minding the store? In fact the total management of the county should be called into question as the tax revenues have skyrocketed, while the services have actually gotten quite poor?
It's not hard to look good when the oil and gas revenue just keep rolling in? Why just look at that old clown up in Edmonton?

[cowman]

New Administration buildings seem to be an election issue in more than one municipality this fall.
In our area it is paving roads past land owned by two members of council, outside the budget....and bumping roads that had been scheduled for paving in the Five Year Plan.
The public petitioned the motion to pave the roads and they had to be cancelled....then they were included in the 2004 budget. The vote on this was split and then another split vote to debenture the road that was originally scheduled. We now are several million in debt to pave a road that should have been done within the budget !
The public petitioned the Minister of Municipal Affairs to do an enquiry into the conduct of council etc., and the resulting report was very damning to a couple of council members. The Minister issued several Directives, one being that the two roads that went past the councillors homes must be cancelled and other roads selected by Administration that had a higher priority.
The Minister also directed that Council obtain an INDEPENDENT legal opinion on whether the two members of council acted with pecuniary interest ( a No No under the Municipal Government Act). The legal opinion indicated that they had so on direction of the Minister a leave was filed with the Court of Queens Bench to have the court decide whether they had acted in pecuniary interest.
One of the councillors didn't run again, but the other one is running.