In September 1939, Britain and France (and Canada) declared war on Germany, followed by…not much.
The “Phony War” lasted until May 1940, when the German blitzkrieg smashed through Belgium and the Netherlands on their way to crush France in weeks. But for nine months, apart from a brief and unenthusiastic offensive by the French, some bombing raids (mostly of propaganda leaflets) and a few naval skirmishes, the two sides mostly sat in their barracks – at war in name only.
That’s what it feels like right now in St. Albert’s municipal election scene.
Despite the official campaign period for this fall’s municipal election having begun on Jan. 1 of this year, there is no race shaping up yet. So far, there is one official candidate for mayor – Scott Olivieri – and one official candidate for council, Amanda Patrick, while another six individuals, including two incumbent councillors, have given notice of their intention to run for office. Some of those, including Sandy Clark, Neil Korotash, Kevin Malinowski and Skye Vermeulen, have indicated publicly they will be seeking council seats.
The two registered incumbents are Coun. Ken MacKay, who has indicated that he will almost certainly run for council but has not fully ruled out a mayoral bid, and Coun. Wes Brodhead, who has registered but not publicly commented on what role he will seek in October.
Both are presumably waiting on a decision from Mayor Cathy Heron. After 15 consecutive years sitting at the horseshoe, seven as councillor and the past eight as mayor, the race can’t truly begin until she makes up her mind and tells the community – and her potential rivals – if she is planning to run again.
After that much service, the mayor has certainly earned the right to take some time to make up her mind. Four-year terms are long and facing another commitment, and the work of setting up a campaign, is a serious decision.
But at the same time, she owes it to the community at large to make that decision in a timely manner. Two incumbents are waiting on that decision to make their own, and their decisions in turn may have a cascading effect for others in the community waiting to see how many “open” seats there are – a serious consideration for some potential candidates, given the name recognition advantage incumbents enjoy.
Right now, there’s only one confirmed non-incumbent seat up for grabs, with Coun. Natalie Joly having ruled out running again long ago – but depending on Heron, MacKay and Brodhead’s decisions, not to mention those of yet-to-announce incumbents Shelley Biermanski, Sheena Hughes and Mike Killick, there could be several. Which means dozens of decisions are likely waiting on one – the mayor’s.
There are 146 days from the day this paper is published until municipal election day – a little less than five months, just shy of 23 weeks. That sounds like a long period of time, but when you consider how much effective campaigning anyone can do in July and August, in practical terms it’s a little more than half that.
Which makes June the perfect time to know what shape our electoral race will take.
The mayor is scheduled to present the State of the City address at the Chamber of Commerce’s monthly lunch meeting June 11 at the Enjoy Centre. An announcement there – or before then – would allow this election to get started.
If that date comes and goes without an announcement, someone else may have to fire the starting gun
